US3827693A

US3827693A - Racing toy apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3827693A
Application number: US00323705A
Authority: US
Inventors: G Barlow; M Glass
Original assignee: Glass Marvin and Associates
Current assignee: Glass Marvin and Associates
Priority date: 1973-01-15
Filing date: 1973-01-15
Publication date: 1974-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 1991-08-06

Abstract

A racing toy apparatus which has an elongated raceway with starting and finishing ends. A plurality of simulated vehicles are movable in generally parallel paths longitudinally of the raceway by pulley and cable type members. A motor and reversible gear train is selectively engageable with a gear on one of the pulleys for each vehicle by a clutch operable independently by the participants to drive the vehicles in alternate forward and reverse intermittent operating intervals. A signal in the form of a traffic light is operatively associated with the reversing gear train to give a green light signal during the forward operation of the gears and a red light signal during the reverse operation of the gears. The participants attempt to be the first to move his respective vehicle to the finishing end of the raceway by timing the actuation of his individual clutch for moving his respective vehicle only during the forward operating intervals.

Description

United States Patent [191 Barlow et al.

[111 3,827,693 [451 Aug. 6, 1974 RACING TOY APPARATUS [73] Assignee: Marvin Glass & Associates,

Chicago, Ill.

22 Filed: Jan. 15, 1973 21 Appl.No.:323,705

Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Attorney, Agent, or FirmCoffee and Sweeney [5 7] ABSTRACT A racing toy apparatus which has an elongated raceway with starting and finishing ends. A plurality of simulated vehicles are movable in generally parallel paths longitudinally of the raceway by pulley and cable type members. A motor and reversible gear train is selectively engageable with a gear on one of the pulleys for each vehicle by a clutch operable independently by the participants to drive the vehicles in alternate forward and reverse intermittent operating intervals. A signal in ,the form of a traffic light is operatively associated with the reversing gear train to give a green light signal during the forward operation of the gears and a red light signal during the reverse operation of the gears. The participants attempt to be the first to move his respective vehicle to the finishing end of the raceway by timing the actuation of his individual clutch for moving his respective vehicle only during the forward operating intervals.

23 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDMJB 81 14 $821693 SHEEI' 2 OF 4 1 RACING TOY APPARATUS BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a racing game or toy apparatus and more particularly to a toy apparatus in which a number of miniature racing cars compete under the dictates of manipulatable mechanisms by the participants or players of the game.

Racing toys are well known but seldom provide excitement and interest other than the mere race itself. They are often of short dimensions and the race is over in such a short period of time that the players do not reach a peak of excitement and interest which is possible to attain. In those instances where races of longer duration are made possible, relatively large racetracks are required to provide a continuous race and most oftentimes the racetracks require considerable, sometimes permanent, space.

It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide a new and improved racing game or toy apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved racing game or toy which occupies relatively little space but which provides for excitement and interest over a relatively sustained period of time.

In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, an elongated raceway having starting and finishing ends is disposed on top of a housingbeneath which the operable components of the apparatus are mounted. A plurality of miniature racing vehicles are positionable on the raceway and are connected to individual cables each wrapped around a pair of pulleys, one pulley at each end of the raceway so that movement of the cables in response to rotation of the pulleys moves the vehicles longitudinally of the raceway. A simulated traffic light is disposed intermediate the ends of the raceway and a winners flag is disposed at the finishing end of the raceway for movement automatically in response to the first vehicle reaching the finishing end of the raceway.

Driving means is provided for the pulleys to drive the pulleys in opposite directions in alternate intermittent operating intervals so as to move the vehicles forwardly or backwardly along the raceway. Clutch means is provided for each participant, operatively associated with a pulley for his respective vehicle whereby the player attempts to engage the pulley for his vehicle with the driving means only during the forward operation thereof in an attempt to reach the finishing end of the raceway before the other vehicles. The traffic light has red and green light means energizable during the backward and forward operations of the driving means, respectively, so that the participants use their skill in timing the actuation of their respective clutch means in accordance with their visual observation of the changing red and green lights. Preferably, certain of the individual clutch means has a manually manipulatable portion at one end of the raceway for use by certain of the participants, while other of the clutch means have manually manipulatable portions at the opposite end of the raceway for manipulation by other of the participants.

More particularly, a common shaft member extends beneath all of the pulleys for the vehicles at one end of the raceway. The shaft has a plurality of gears thereon, one gear for each pulley, to be selectively engaged with gear means connected to each pulley. A miniature motor is connected through a gear train having forward and reverse gear members movable into and out of engagement alternately with the commonly rotatable gears beneath the pulleys. The movement of the forward and reverse gears is dictated by a cam member having varying cam lobes rotatable by the miniature motor. Thus, the common driving gears are rotated in alternate opposite forward and reverse directions during changing intermittent operating intervals. The red and green traffic light signals are coordinated with the movement of the forward and reverse gears. The clutch means for each player includes a lever which selectively and independently lowers the gear means for the respective toy vehicle to selectively lower the pulley gear into engagement with one of the common gears, preferably only during the forward motion of the common gear as indicated by the green light signal. Should the player not react sufficiently fast to the changing of the gears as shown by the changing of the light means, his vehicle will change directions and move backwardly until he releases his individual clutch.

Other objects, features and advantages of the inention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a racing toy apparatus in accordance with the concepts of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view, on an enlarged scale and partially broken away, of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section, partially broken away, taken generally along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section, partially broken away, taken generally along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken generally along the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken generally along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the gear train between the motor means and the common driving gears for the vehicles;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary elevational view of portions of the gears shown in FIG. 7, with the forward and reverse gears moved to their alternate position;

FIG. 9 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the traffic light type signal means shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 10 is a wiring diagram for the motor, switch means and light signals of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to FIG. 1, a racing toy apparatus or game is shown to include a base structure or housing, generally designated 10, having a top surface 12 defining an elongated raceway. The raceway 12 is formed by a raised top wall portion 14 of the housing 10, beneath which most of the operable components of the invention are mounted. The raceway has a starting end, generally designated 16, and a finishing end, generally designated 18. Disposed intermediate the ends 16 and 18 is a signal means in the form of a simulated traffic light, generally designated 20. A plurality of miniature vehicles 22 are provided for movement over the raceway 12 in generally parallel paths back and forth in the direction of the doubleheaded arrows A. A flag member 24 is movably mounted at the finishing end 18 of the raceway and is actuated by the first vehicle 22 to reach the finishing end and engage the actuating means for the flag.

The general scheme for the racing apparatus first will be described so as to facilitate the description of the various structural components thereof. Each of the miniature vehicles 22 is connected to an independently operable cable 26 which is moved by power means and link means, described hereinafter, by selective actuation of clutch means by the participants of the game. The driving means is provided with alternate forward and reverse intermittent operating intervals which are coordinated with green and red light portions of the traffic light 20. When a participant sees the green signal at the traffic light 20 he pushes downwardly in the direction of arrows B (FIG. 1) on exposed actuating button portions 28 of his respective clutch means to move his respective vehicle 22 in a forward direction toward the finishing end 18 of the raceway. When the traffic signal 20 changes back to a red light signal, he releases the actuating portion 28 to stop his vehicle. Should he be slow in releasing the pressure on the actuating portion 28, his respective vehicle will move backward toward the staring end 16 of the raceway until he releases the pressure. The light signal 20 and the driving means for the cables 26 alternate at changing intervals between forward and reverse operating functions. Obviously, alertness, skill, manual dexterity and quickness are desirable attributes in being successful at playing the game. As stated above, the winner of the game is the first participant to have his vehicle 22 reach the finishing end 18 of the raceway and actuate the finishing flag 24.

Turning first to the simulated traffic light 20, and particularly to FIG. 9, the light includes an upstanding column type housing 30, the base of which is press fit into a hollow boss portion 32 depending downwardly on the underside of the housing top wall portion 14. An outwardly protruding flange 34 rests on top of the top wall 14 of the housing 10. A pair of miniature lightbulbs 36a and 36b are disposed behind pairs of oppositely directed windows 38a and 3817, respectively. The windows 38a and 3812 are covered on the inside thereof by

translucent panels

40a and 40b, respectively. In the embodiment shown herein, the upper lightbulb 36a has been designated the red lightbulb for the backward or reverse operation of the vehicles and the lower bulb 36b has been designated the forward bulb. To this end, the panels 40a would be red in color so as to transmit a red light from the bulb 36a, and the panels 40b would be green in color so as to transmit a green color from tation with a gear member 48 mounted on the side thereof, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5. Each of the pulley 44 and gear 48 combinations is mounted as a unit on individual rotatably mounted stub shafts 50, as shown in FIG. 5. Each of the units (comprising one pulley 44, its associated gear 48, and their associated stub shaft 50) is mounted for vertical reciprocation (as indicated by the double-headed arrows C in FIGS. 3 and 5) for selective engagement with a gear member 52. All of the gears 52 are mounted on a square shaft 54 which is rotated in alternate opposite directions. as indicated by the doubleheaded arrow D (FIG. 3), as described in greater detail hereinafter.

In order to raise and lower the pulley 44 and gear 48 units independently by the players of the game for their respective vehicles 22, a lever member 56 (FIG. 3) is pivotally connected on the underside of the top wall 14 of the housing by means of a pin 58 journalled in brackets 60. As best seen in FIG. 5, the stub shaft 50 of the pulley-gear units is journalled in its respective lever 56 so that the pulley 44 and gear 48 is raised and lowered as the lever 56 pivots in the direction of doubleheaded arrow E (FIG. 3). Each of the levers 56 is operatively associated with one of the actuatable buttons 28 described above in relation to FIG. 1.

However, preferably, one or more buttons 28 are disposed at both ends of the raceway 12 for actuation by players of the game as they face each other. For the players at the starting end 16 of the raceway, one of the buttons 28 is connected by a downwardly depending brace 62 (FIG. 3) to the respective lever 56. With reference to FIG. 3, the particular lever for the button 28 at the righthand end of FIG. 3 is obscured from view by the particular lever 56 shown. In order to provide actuation of the lever 56 shown in FIG. 3 by a player at the finishing end 18 of the raceway, a second lever 64 is pivoted by pin 66 on the underside of the housing 10. The lever 64 is connected to the lever 56 by means of a connecting rod 68 which is connected to the levers at points spaced from the

pivots

58 and 66 thereof, as best seen in FIG. 3. Thus, when a player at the finishing end of the raceway presses down on his button 28 in the direction of arrow B (FIG. 3) the lever 64 will pivot in the direction of arrow F (FIG. 3) and cause the lever 56 to pivot in the direction of arrow G to thereby lower the gear 48 for his respective vehicle into engagement with one of the conjointly rotatable gears 52. Of course, for the players at the starting end of the raceway, the respective button 28 is connected directly to the lever 56 by brace piece 62 and the lever 64 and rod 68 is eliminated. Leaf springs 69 (FIG. 5) are secured to the underside of the housing by a boss 69a and bear on the underside of the levers 56 to normally bias the same opposite arrow G to bias the buttons 28 upwardly.

In order to rotate the conjointly rotatable gears 52 in alternate opposite directions, reference is made first to FIGS. 2, 7 and 8 where a miniature motor 70 is shown operatively connected through a gear train, generally designated 72, to a gear member 74 fixed to the shaft 54 for the conjointly rotatable gear members 52. More particularly, the motor has a drive shaft 76 with a pulley 78 mounted thereon about which a drive belt 80 is wrapped. The drive belt 80 also is wrapped about a larger pulley 82 having a gear member 84 secured thereto for conjoint rotation. Gear 84 is in mesh with a larger gear member 86 which itself is in mesh with a gear member 88 which will be called the reversing or backward gear. The backward gear 88 has a smaller gear 90 secured thereto for conjoint rotation, with the gear 90 in mesh with a larger gear 92 which will be called the forward gear. The

gears

86, 88, 90 and 92 are mounted on a common triangularly shaped support plate 94 shown by the dotted line in FIG. 7. There actually are a pair of triangular plates 94 between which the gears are mounted. All of the gears are mounted between a pair of supporting

plates

96a and 96b (FIG. 2).

A shaft 98 for gear 86 is fixedly journalled between the

plates

96a and 96b. A shaft 100 for

gears

88 and 90 is fixed only to the triangular plates 94 and is not connected to the plates 96a, 9612. A shaft 102 for gear 92 extends through an arcuate slot 104 (FIG. 7) in the support plate 96a. The triangular plates 94 are pivoted on shaft 98.

Thus, with the structure described immediately above, movement of the triangularly shaped support plates 94 back and forth in the direction of doubleheaded arrow H (FIG. 7) will cause the backward gear 88 and the forward gear 92 to alternately move into engagement with the gear 74 which is conjointly rotatable with the individual driving gears 52. FIG. 7 shows the forward gear 92 in mesh with the gear 74. FIG. 8 shows the backward gear 88 moved into mesh with the gear 74 and the forward gear 92 moved out of mesh. The slot 104 provides for lost motion between the shaft 102 for gear 92 and the supporting plate 96a. Arrows have been shown on the gears in FIGS. 7 and 8 to show the opposite directions of rotation of the gear 74 dependent upon its engagement with either of

gears

88 or 92.

Means is provided to oscillate the triangularly shaped supporting plates 94 about the axis of shaft 98 for gear 86 to provide alternate forward and backward intermittent operating intervals for the vehicle through the gear means described above. More particularly, a gear member 106 (FIG. 7) is mounted on a shaft 108 and is in mesh with a smaller gear 110 fixed for conjoint rotation with gear 86 in the gear train 72. Shaft 108 extends through support plate 96b and has a relatively small pinion gear 112 fixed thereto on the opposite side of the support plate 96b. Pinion gear 112 is mounted in mesh with a larger disc gear 114 having a cam member, generally designated 116, secured thereto for conjoint rotation therewith. When the motor is actuated, gear 106 will be rotated in the direction of arrow I (FIG. 7) to rotate pinion gear 112 in the direction of arrow J (FIG. 4) which, in turn, rotates disc gear 114 and cam member 116 in the direction of arrow K (FIG. 4).

The cam member 116 has a plurality of cam lobes 116a which vary in size and vary in spacing to provide varying operating intervals for the forward and

reverse gears

92 and 88, respectively. A crank member, generally designated 118, (FIG. 4) has a lever portion 120 pivoted intermediate its ends 122 to the support plate 96b. Lever 120 has a cam follower portion 124 at one end thereof for engagement with the cam member 116 to ride over the cam lobes 116a and to fall into the gaps between the cam lobes. The crank means 118 has an arm portion 126 pivoted at one end 128 to the opposite end of the lever member 120. The opposite end of the arm portion 126 is connected to the shaft 102 for the forward gear 92, the shaft 102 being fixed to the pivotal triangularly shaped support plates 94. Thus, as the cam member 116 rotates in the direction of arrow K, the cam lobes 116a bias the lever portion 120 pivotally about the shaft 122 in the direction of arrow L (FIG. 4). The opposite end of the lever pushes the arm portion 126 upwardly in the direction of arrow M (FIG. 4) to move the forward gear 92 out of mesh with the gear 74 and .to move the backward gear 88 into mesh with the gear 74. When the cam follower portion 124 falls back into a gap between the cam lobes, biasing means (described hereinafter) urges the crank means 118 opposite the direction of arrows L and M to move the forward gear 92 back into mesh with the gear 74, as described above.

Switch means is operatively associated with the crank means 118 to change the light means at the traffic light 20 from green to red as the forward gear 92 is moved out of mesh with gear 74. More particularly, and referring to FIGS. 4 and 10, a pair of leaf spring contacts 130a and l30b are mounted on the support plate 96b in spaced relationship. A switching leaf spring contact 132 also is mounted on the support plate 96b between the contacts 130a and 13% in the position shown so as normally to be in engagement with the contact 13%. Contact 130b is the green contact and is connected through line 134 (FIG. 10) to the green lightbulb 36b. Contact 130a is the red contact and is connected through line 136 to the red lightbulb 36a. The switching contact 132 is fixed to the shaft 102 which extends through the arm portion 126 of the crank means 118, the shaft 102 being the shaft for the forward gear 92. Thus, it can be seen that as the forward and backward gears 92 and 98, respectively, are shifted between the positions shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the red and green lightbulbs 36a and 3612, respectively, will be energized in accordance with the positions of the operating gears.

Referring back to the wiring diagram in FIG. 10, the common switching contact 132 is electrically connected through line 138 to battery means 140 (e.g., a 1V2 volt battery) which in turn is connected through line 142 to an on-off switch, generally designated 144. The lightbulbs 36a, 36b are connected through lines 146 and 148, respectively, and line 150 to the on-off switch means 144. An actuator button 152 (FIG. 9) may be exposed on top of the housing 10 at the base of the simulated traffic light 20, as seen in FIG. 1. The onoff switch 144 also is common to and operatively connected to the motor 70 through line 154. The motor is connected to a pair of batteries 156 (e.g., 1V2 volt batteries) by line 158. The batteries 156 are connected back to the switch means 144 by line 160. The batteries 156 are connected in series by line 162.

As best seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and 6, the flag member 24 is formed integral with an arm portion 164 which is pivoted to the housing 10 by a pin 166. The flag member 24 and its arm portion 164 are generally received for reciprocating movement within a slot 168 in the housing. FIG. 4 shows the flag member in a cocked position with a transverse rod 170 disposed within a notch 172 at the juncture between the flag member 24 and its arm portion 164. The transverse rod member 170 is pivoted to the housing 10 by arm portions 173 and extends across the entire finishing end 18 of the raceway as best seen in FIGS. 1 and 6. Thus, as a vehicle 122 reaches the finishing end 18, it will come into abutment with the transverse rod 170 to cause the rod to pivot about its ends 174 in the direction of arrow N (FIG. 4). As the rod 170 moves out of the notch 172, resilient means in the form of a rubber band 176 or other appropriate spring means, causes the flag member 24 and its arm portion 164 to pivot upwardly about pivot 166 in the direction of arrow (FIG. 4) to the position shown in FIG. 1. The rubber band 176 is wrapped about a boss 178 on the underside of the top wall 14 of the housing and about a boss portion 180 fixed to the arm portion 164 of the flag member 24.'ln order to again cock the flag member 124 to the position shown in FIG. 4, it simply is manually depressed and the transverse rod 170 is positioned within the notch 72, stretching the rubber band 176.

in order to return the vehicles 22 back to the starting end 16 to start another race, they simply are moved backward manually as long as the

gears

48 and 52 are out of mesh.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. A racing toy apparatus, comprising:

means defining a raceway;

a plurality of individual racing toys operatively associated with said raceway for movement therealong in generally parallel paths, one racing toy for each participant;

driving means for moving said racing toys along said raceway only during predetermined intermittent operating intervals of time, said driving means including a gear train operatively associated with power means and including a forward gear member and a reverse gear member constantly in mesh in said gear train and third gear means, said forward and reverse gear members being movable into alternate meshed engagement with said third gear means to drive said third gear means in opposite directions during certain of said operating intervals to provide intermittent forward and reverse movement of said racing toys;

signal means operatively associated with said driving means so as to be actuated only during certain of said intermittent operating intervals; and

individually operable clutch means for each racing toy for selectively operatively connecting each racing toy independently to said third gear means by said participants in an attempt to operatively move the racing toys only during said operating intervals.

2. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said signal means comprises light means energized and deenergized in timed relationship with said intermittent operating intervals.

3. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said racing toys comprise miniature vehicles.

4. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 including means for varying the timing of said operating intervals.

5. The racing toy apparatus of claim 4 wherein said last named means includes a cam member having varying sizes of operative cam lobes.

6. The racing toy apparatus of claim 4 including means for varying the length of said operating intervals.

7. The racing toy apparatus of claim 6 wherein said last named means includes a cam member having varying sizes of operative cam lobes.

8. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said raceway is elongated with opposite starting and finishing ends thereof, with certain ones of said clutch means having exposed manually manipulatable portions at one end of the raceway and the other of said clutch means having exposed manually manipulatablc portions at the opposite end of the raceway.

9. The racing toy apparatus of claim 8 wherein said signal means comprises a traffic light disposed on and intermediate the ends of said raceway.

10. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said raceway is elongated with opposite starting and finishing ends thereof, and including flag means at said finishing end of the raceway, the flag means being automatically actuatable when the first racing toy reaches the finishing end of the raceway.

11. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said signal means has means for effecting different signals for said forward and reverse operating intervals.

12. The racing toy apparatus of claim 11 wherein said signal means comprises light means for effecting green and red light signals for said forward and reverse intervals, respectively.

13. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said raceway is elongated and has opposite ends and said driving means includes a pair of pulley-like members for each racing toy, one pulley member of each pair thereof at each end of the raceway, and a cable member wrapped about each pair of pulleys and connected to the respective racing toy for moving the same in response to driving at least one of the pulleys.

14. The racing toy apparatus of claim 13 wherein said clutch means includes means for selectively engaging and disengaging at least one of said pulley member to said third gear means.

15. The racing toy apparatus of claim 14 including means for bodily moving one of each pair of said pulley members into and out of driving association with said third gear means.

16. The racing toy apparatus of claim 15 wherein said clutch means includes a gear member operatively associated with one of each pair of said pulley members and movable independently into and out of engagement with third said gear means.

17. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said signal means is actuated in response to movement of said forward and reverse gear members.

18. The racing toy apparatus of claim 17 wherein said signal means comprises light means for effecting a green light signal when said "forward gear member is in mesh with said third gear member and for effecting a red light signal when said reverse gear member is in mesh with said third gear member.

19. The racing toy apparatus of claim 18 including switch means in circuit with said light means, said switch means being actuated automatically in response to movement of said forward and reverse gear members.

20. A racing toy apparatus comprising:

means defining an elongated raceway having a plurality of parallel tracks with opposite starting and finishing ends;

a plurality of individual toy racing devices, one for each participant, each racing device being operatively associated with one of said tracks for movement therealong;

driving means operably associated with power means and associatable with said racing devices for moving said racing devices along said tracks in a forward direction during certain predetermined intermittent operating intervals of time and in a reverse direction during other predetermined operating intervals, said driving means including a forward gear means and a reverse gear means associated with said power means and a third gear means, said forward and reverse gear means being adapted to alternately engage said third gear means to drive said third gear means in opposite directions during the operating intervals; an upstanding singular simulated traffic light operably associated with said driving means and mounted intermediate the ends of the raceway, said traffic light having a green light and a red light visible from either end of said raceway, said traffic light displaying a green light during said forward direction intervals and a red light during said reverse direction intervals; and plurality of individually and selectively operable clutch means, one for each track, operably associated between said third gear means and each racing device for selectively associating a racing device to said driving means to move said racing devices during said operating intervals.

21. The racing toy apparatus of claim 20 including flag means at said finishing end of the raceway, the flag means being automatically actuatable when the first racing device reaches the finishing end of the raceway.

22. The racing toy apparatus of claim 20 wherein said driving means includes a pair of pulley-like members for each racing device, one pulley member of each pair thereof at each end of the raceway, and a cable member wrapped about each pair of pulleys and connected to the respective racing device for moving the same in response to driving at .least one of the pulleys, said clutch means including means for selectively engaging and disengaging at least one of said pulleys to said driving means.

23. The racing toy apparatus of claim 20 wherein said traffic light includes a switch means operatively associated with said forward and reverse gear means for illuminating either said green light or said red light in reponse to the movement of the forward gear means into engagement with the third gear means or the movementof the reverse gear means into engagement with the third gear means respectively.

Claims

1. A racing toy apparatus, comprising: means defining a raceway; a plurality of individual racing toys operatively associated with said raceway for movement therealong in generally parallel paths, one racing toy for each participant; driving means for moving said racing toys along said raceway only during predetermined intermittent operating intervals of time, said driving means including a gear train operatively associated with power means and including a ''''forward'''' gear member and a ''''reverse'''' gear member constantly in mesh in said gear train and third geaR means, said forward and reverse gear members being movable into alternate meshed engagement with said third gear means to drive said third gear means in opposite directions during certain of said operating intervals to provide intermittent forward and reverse movement of said racing toys; signal means operatively associated with said driving means so as to be actuated only during certain of said intermittent operating intervals; and individually operable clutch means for each racing toy for selectively operatively connecting each racing toy independently to said third gear means by said participants in an attempt to operatively move the racing toys only during said operating intervals.

2. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said signal means comprises light means energized and de-energized in timed relationship with said intermittent operating intervals.

8. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said raceway is elongated with opposite starting and finishing ends thereof, with certain ones of said clutch means having exposed manually manipulatable portions at one end of the raceway and the other of said clutch means having exposed manually manipulatable portions at the opposite end of the raceway.

17. The racing toy apparatus of claim 1 wherein said signal means is actuated in response to movement of said ''''forward'''' and ''''reverse'''' gear members.

18. The racing toy apparatus of claim 17 wherein said signal means comprises light means for effecting a green light signal when said ''''forward'''' gear member is in mesh with said third gear memBer and for effecting a red light signal when said ''''reverse'''' gear member is in mesh with said third gear member.

19. The racing toy apparatus of claim 18 including switch means in circuit with said light means, said switch means being actuated automatically in response to movement of said ''''forward'''' and ''''reverse'''' gear members.

20. A racing toy apparatus comprising: means defining an elongated raceway having a plurality of parallel tracks with opposite starting and finishing ends; a plurality of individual toy racing devices, one for each participant, each racing device being operatively associated with one of said tracks for movement therealong; driving means operably associated with power means and associatable with said racing devices for moving said racing devices along said tracks in a forward direction during certain predetermined intermittent operating intervals of time and in a reverse direction during other predetermined operating intervals, said driving means including a forward gear means and a reverse gear means associated with said power means and a third gear means, said forward and reverse gear means being adapted to alternately engage said third gear means to drive said third gear means in opposite directions during the operating intervals; an upstanding singular simulated traffic light operably associated with said driving means and mounted intermediate the ends of the raceway, said traffic light having a green light and a red light visible from either end of said raceway, said traffic light displaying a green light during said forward direction intervals and a red light during said reverse direction intervals; and a plurality of individually and selectively operable clutch means, one for each track, operably associated between said third gear means and each racing device for selectively associating a racing device to said driving means to move said racing devices during said operating intervals.

22. The racing toy apparatus of claim 20 wherein said driving means includes a pair of pulley-like members for each racing device, one pulley member of each pair thereof at each end of the raceway, and a cable member wrapped about each pair of pulleys and connected to the respective racing device for moving the same in response to driving at least one of the pulleys, said clutch means including means for selectively engaging and disengaging at least one of said pulleys to said driving means.

23. The racing toy apparatus of claim 20 wherein said traffic light includes a switch means operatively associated with said forward and reverse gear means for illuminating either said green light or said red light in reponse to the movement of the forward gear means into engagement with the third gear means or the movement of the reverse gear means into engagement with the third gear means respectively.