DE9111296U1 - Driving toy with chain drive - Google Patents

Description

B: KOGOl TX. TAT

Driving toy with chain drive

The present invention relates to a driving toy with a chain drive that can also be driven on rough terrain or on poor roads ("off road").

With remote-controlled driving toys, such as cars, it is

-I5 generally known to engage or disengage the drive motor using radio control commands. There are also various well-known off-road toy vehicles with radio remote control. The products can be roughly divided into two groups, namely four-wheel drive (4WD) cars, where four wheels are driven, and toy vehicles that are driven with chains, crawlers or the like. Four-wheel drive vehicles can drive at high speeds because the drive power of the engine acts directly on the four wheels. However, these vehicles have the disadvantage that their wheels sink into sand or grass, so that they cannot continue driving there. In addition, their construction is often complicated. The also well-known toy vehicles such as tanks or the like that are equipped with chains (crawlers) have excellent off-road properties, but generally drive very slowly.

Accordingly, no four-wheel drive toy vehicles or tracked toy vehicles are known that have both a simple structure and can also drive reliably off slippery paths.

The task is therefore to provide a toy vehicle with a tracked drive that not only drives at high speeds like well-known four-wheel drive vehicles, but also has good driving characteristics off-road.

Features of the invention with which the above objects are achieved are right and left wheels provided both at the front and rear ends of the vehicle body, as well as right and left tracks (caterpillars) laid over the front and rear wheels, as well as drive means for separately and independently driving the front or rear wheels on the left and right sides.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a tracked toy vehicle having a vehicle body with right and left sides and a front and rear portion,

which further has a right and a left front wheel mounted on opposite sides of the vehicle body front part,
which has a right and a left rear wheel mounted on opposite sides of the rear of the vehicle body,

and in which a right and a left chain, which are laid over the right and left front and rear wheels respectively and the drive means for separate, mutually

OQ has independent drive of the chains.

Preferably, the toy vehicle comprises drive means designed as a first motor, which is drivingly connected to the right wheels, and as a second

_oc Motor, which is connected to the left wheels 35

is.

The invention therefore relates to a toy vehicle, which is characterized by the following individual parts:

- a vehicle body having a front and a rear and a right and a left side,

- a drive section in the rear of the vehicle body, which contains two separate motors, which are connected in a drive-directed manner via two separate reduction gears to a right-hand drive shaft and a left-hand drive shaft, which can be driven separately by these motors,

- right and left gears that are connected to the right and left drive shafts, respectively,

- right and left front gears, which are rotatably mounted in the front area of the vehicle body,

- right and left chains, which are placed over the front and rear wheels on the right and left sides respectively,

- the chains have inward-facing projections that engage with corresponding teeth on the outside of the gears,

- and the rear gears have a larger diameter than the front gears,

- and further in that the vehicle body has a tapered front end and a wedge-shaped height increasing towards the rear, whereby parts located in the front part which extend forwards to the tapered front end extend over the front parts

3Q of the front wheels.

The front sections of the tracks, which extend over the front parts of the front wheels, are positioned in front of all other parts so that the vehicle can climb over obstacles that lie in its path.

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Preferably, the vehicle is characterized in that the tapered front end appears tapered both in plan view and in side view and that the height of the vehicle body increases from front to rear.

The vehicle may have horizontal and vertical wing parts at the rear that stabilize the toy vehicle, especially when it is traveling fast.

Preferably, the vehicle is further characterized in that the peripheral projections of the gears comprise two laterally spaced partial projections between which there is a depression, that each of the tooth-like projections of the chains comprises two laterally spaced partial projections between which there is a raised projecting part,

and that the raised projecting part enters the recess when the lateral partial projections of the chains mesh with the partial projections of the wheels.

Furthermore, the invention preferably relates to a toy vehicle with the features of subclaim 10.

Since the vehicle of the present invention has the front or rear wheels on the left or right O ₀ side separately driven by the drive units, there is not only the ability to travel at high speed, but also the ability to travel over rough surfaces, with the ground contact ^increased accordingly by the tracks -

In interaction with the tapered (pointed) front

At the front end (bow), the front wheels have a smaller diameter than the rear wheels. The independently driven chains enable the toy vehicle to climb over obstacles or overcome them. They also contribute to the maximum achievable speed.

Further features and advantages are evident from the following description based on the drawing.

Short description of the drawings

In the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate like parts, show:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toy vehicle in an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the same toy vehicle according to Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a plan view of the toy vehicle according to Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a track part of the toy vehicle according to Part 1;

Figure 5 is a block diagram of a transmitter circuit

and

Figure 6 is a block diagram of a receiver circuit.

Detailed description of the main embodiment

The drawing shows a preferred embodiment of the vehicle toy with caterpillar drive.

It comprises: a body 11 which forms the upper part of the vehicle body, a chassis 12 which forms the lower part of the vehicle body, left and right front wheels 13a and 13b provided at the front end of the chassis, and left and right rear wheels 14a and 14b provided at the rear end of the chassis. Left and right tracks (caterpillars) 15a and 15b are laid over the front and rear wheels on the left and right sides, respectively. At the rear end, a drive unit is provided for separately driving the left and right rear wheels 14a, 14b.

The body 11 and the chassis 12 are made of, for example, plastic or similar material. The body 11 is formed in the shape of a vehicle model which has a quasi-tapered front end and gradually widens in a wedge shape toward the rear end and which is provided with horizontal and vertical wing elements or fins. The chassis 12 has a substantially box-like shape which forms the lower frame of the vehicle body. A support plate 17 provided with an integrated circuit which is a receiver circuit or the like described below is mounted in the upper side of the chassis 12. The drive unit 16 provided at the rear end of the chassis 12 comprises reduction gears or the like. Each of the front wheels 13a, 13b and rear wheels 14a, 14b is made of plastic or similar material and has a

3Q around the periphery two spatially spaced rows of teeth 20, 20'. The mutual spatial distance can be seen in Figure 4. Each of the front wheels 13a, 13b has a smaller diameter than the rear wheels 14a, 14b, as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2.

_oc . The two front wheels 13a, 13b are mounted on the opposite ends of a front axle 18 which is mounted horizontally and transversely under the front part of the chassis.

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sis 12 is provided for.

The rear wheels 14a, 14b, on the other hand, are mounted on outer shaft ends of the left and right wheel shafts 19a, 19b, which are intended to extend horizontally from the sides of the rear part of the chassis 12 containing the drive unit 16. The front wheels 13a, 13b are mounted so that their foremost parts protrude slightly beyond the front end of the body 11 or chassis 12. Both (left and right) tracks 15a, 15b are made of a rubber material or the like in the form of an endless belt having on its inner side two spaced rows of projecting parts 21, 21, which are intermeshed with the two rows of teeth 20, 20' on each of the wheels. A central row of projections 22, slightly higher than the two rows of projections 21, 21', is formed between them to fit into the central groove or space provided between the laterally spaced pairs of teeth 20, 20'. Rows of ground-engaging projections 23 are formed on the outside of the chains 15a, 15b; these outwardly projecting portions extend across the entire width and are spaced the same as the rows of inwardly projecting portions 21, 21'.

The drive unit 16 located in the rear part contains separately a left and right motor 24a and 24b,

₃ Q which are separately controlled and transmit driving force to the rear wheels 14a and 14b. This is where the transmission mechanism (reduction gear) comes into action. The two motors 24a, 24b are housed in the rear part of the chassis 12. Their horizontally positioned

3g and output shafts pointing towards each other carry relatively long pinions 25a, 25b on the inner extended ends of the output shafts (see Figure 3). The control terminals

of the motors 24a, 24b are electrically connected to the corresponding positions on the support plate 17, respectively, so that the drive of each motor is independently controllable, as will be described below. Left and right intermediate gears 26a, 26b mesh with the pinions 25a and 25b, respectively. Large and small gears 27a, 28a, and 28b, 28b are integrally mounted on both sides of the intermediate gears 26a and 26b, respectively. The left and right intermediate gears 26a and 26b, respectively, can be shifted by means of a gear shift lever 29 while remaining in meshing connection with the left and right pinions 25a and 25b, respectively.

Large and small gears 30a, 31a and 30b, 31b are provided on the left and right gear shafts 19a and 19b, respectively. When the intermediate gears 26a and 26b are shifted to the left side of the gear shift lever 29 (this position is shown in the drawing), the left and right gears 28a and 28b mesh with the gears 30a and 30b. When the intermediate gears 27a and 27b slide to the right side, the left and right gears 27a and 27b mesh with the gears 31a and 31b. Accordingly, the left and right reduction mechanisms can be simultaneously switched to a low speed side or to a higher speed by manually moving the gear shift lever 29 horizontally.

Figure 5 shows a block diagram of a transmitter circuit ₃ q. Figure 6 shows a block diagram of a receiver circuit of the same embodiment.

In the drawing, the transmitter and receiver for the toy vehicle form a radio remote control. The system

_O1 - contains a pulse-positioned modulation and a

detection methods that use a synchronous digital signal for a decoder or the like. In this

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control system, output control signals corresponding to a left or right joystick (not shown) are transmitted as electric waves and received by the receiver in the toy vehicle so that the right and left motors 24a, 24b can be controlled separately. The receiver circuit corresponds to the circuit arranged on the support plate 17.

In the transmitter circuit shown in Figure 5, the reference numerals 41A, 41B and 41C, 41D designate switches which are turned on or off in connection with the left or right designation of the control sticks. A key circuit 42 detects the on/off status of the switches 41A, 41B, 41C, 41D and is connected to a data register 44 to which a code generation circuit 43 is also connected. The output of the data register 44 is connected to a mixer circuit 46 which also receives an input signal from a high frequency generator circuit 44. The output from the mixer circuit 46 is applied to a transmitting antenna 47. When the switch 41A of the switch group 41A/41B, both of which are connected together to the channel control stick, is turned ON, the left motor 24a is commanded to rotate normally in a forward direction. On the other hand, if the other switch 41b is turned ON, the motor is instructed to run in reverse. If both switches 41A, 41B are turned OFF, the motor is instructed to stop. These switching operations are also applicable to the right switches 41C, 41D which control the right motor. Both switches 41A, 41B are not to be turned ON at the same time.

In the receiver circuit shown in Figure 6, the reference number 48 designates a receiver antenna, reference number 49 a circuit for high frequency amplification and detection, reference number 50 an amplifier circuit, reference number

- 10 -

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numeral 51 a data comparator, numeral 52 a shift register, reference numeral 53 a data decoder, reference numerals 54a and 54b drive circuits for driving the left and right motors 24a and 24b. These various circuits are connected together as shown.

The left and right switches 41A, 41B and 41C, 41D are turned ON or OFF by operating the joystick on the transmitting side. When the key detection circuit detects the ON or OFF position of a switch, the corresponding code is set in the data register 44 by the code generation circuit 43 in accordance with the detected ON or OFF position. The output signal from the data register is mixed with the carrier wave generated by the high frequency generator circuit 45 in the mixer circuit 46. The output signal from the mixer circuit 46 is sent out as a wave from the transmitting antenna 47. The waves are received by the receiving antenna 48, modulated into a serial signal corresponding to the operation signal from the high frequency amplification/detection circuit 49 and the amplifier circuit 50, and applied to the shift register 52. The serial signal is converted into a parallel signal in the shift register 52, compared with a preset frequency in the data comparator, and then output as a parallel signal to the data decoder 53. The data decoder 53 produces an output signal corresponding to the operating position. The output signal is passed to the left and right drive circuits so that the left and right motors 24a, 24b are separately controlled to produce forward rotation, reverse rotation or stop in accordance with the operation of the joysticks from the transmitter.

An example of how this toy vehicle works is described below. If both the right

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1

and the left motor 24a, 24b rotate forward according to the operation of the radio control transmitter, the rear wheels 14a, 14b are rotated forward by the pinions 25a, 25b, the intermediate gears 26a, 26b, the gears 28a, 28b, the gears 30a, 30b and the rear wheel shafts 19a, 19b and drive the tracks 15a, 15b. The drive torque on the tracks 15a, 15b causes the normal (forward) rotation of the front wheels. When all four wheels are driven in normal rotation, the toy vehicle moves forward on the tracks. Here, the two adjacent rows of teeth 20, 20' of the rear wheels 14a, 14b and the front wheels 13a, 13b engage the inwardly projecting parts 21, 21' of the chains 15a, 15b. The central projecting parts 22 fit into the central recess between the pairs of teeth 20, 20', preventing the chains 15a, 15b from separating from the wheels. The toy vehicle can be moved forward by reversing the direction of rotation of both the left and right motors by the corresponding operation as described above. If one of the motors rotates normally so that the chain is moved, while the other motor is stopped so that the driven chain is stopped, the direction of movement of the toy can be changed from the outside without using a control mechanism. The toy vehicle can be moved by moving one motor forward and redirecting the other motor. In addition, it can be switched to high-speed movement or low-speed movement by manual switching, namely via the gearshift lever 29.

The toy vehicle can be controlled freely. You can let the left and right motors rotate normally, rotate backwards and stop separately by controlling the left and right joysticks on the transmitter side. In addition, the left and right motors

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directly connected to the left and right rear wheels 14a, 14b through the reduction gear. The left and right rear wheels are connected to the front wheels 13a, 13b through the tracks 15a, 15b so that the four wheels are driven. With this simple structure, it is possible to achieve the same high-speed performance as a conventional four-wheel drive vehicle. The arrangement of the tracks 15a, 15b results in an increase in ground contact compared with a four-wheel drive vehicle and prevents the toy vehicle from sinking off-road, such as in sand or grass, which increases the ability to drive freely off-road.

In particular, in the described embodiment, the front end of the body 11 or the chassis 12 does not protrude forward beyond the front wheels 13a, 13b. The surfaces of the tracks 15a, 15b are attached to the extreme front end of the vehicle without covering. When an obstacle appears in front of the vehicle body, this obstacle is contacted by the front part of one of the two tracks; the toy vehicle can move over the obstacle by the forward propulsive force of the vehicle and the strength of the front ends of the tracks which lift the body over the obstacle.

Deviating from the embodiment shown, in which the left and right rear wheels 14a and 14b are driven by the left and right motors 24a, 24b, it is also possible to drive the left or right front wheels 13a and 13b. The control method makes it possible not only to use normal and reverse rotation at a constant rotation speed, but also to change the rotation speed continuously or step by step. The shape of the body 11, the chassis 12, the wheels 13 and the tracks 14 are not limited to the

- 13 -

- 13 1

nform limited to the embodiment shown, but can also take on any other desired shape.
5

As described above, the tracks run over the front and rear wheels, which are provided on the left and right sides of the body of the toy vehicle, so that the front and/or rear wheels are driven separately. The invention also allows driving at a high speed like a four-wheel drive vehicle, with the ground contact area being increased. The toy vehicle can therefore be operated both on a bad road and off-road.

The embodiments described above are not to be seen as a limitation of the inventive concept. Modifications and alternative designs are possible without departing from the essence and purpose of the appended claims.

Claims (10)

-Al-1 B: KOGOl _P A. TAT Claims: 1. Chain driving toy with the following individual parts: a vehicle body having right and left sides and front and rear parts, right and left front wheels (13b, 13a) mounted on opposite sides of the vehicle body front part, right and left rear wheels (14b, 14a) mounted on opposite sides of the vehicle body rear part, right and left chains (15b, 15a) laid over the right and left front and rear wheels (13b + 14b; 13a + 14a) respectively, and drive means (24a, 24b) for separately and independently driving said chains. 2. A driving toy according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive means comprise a first motor (24b) which is drivingly connected to one of the right wheels (13b; 14b) and a second motor (24a) which is drivingly connected to one of the left wheels (13a; 14a). 3. A driving toy according to claim 2, characterized by - a first reduction gear (25b + 26b) between the first motor (24b) and one of the right wheels, - a second reduction gear (25a + 26a) between a second motor (24a) and one of the left wheels, - the reduction gear has one slow gear and one fast gear, - and a common gear shift lever (29) for both reduction gears, which is movable in such a way that both reduction gears - A2 - - A2 1 can be switched between slow and fast gear. 4. A toy vehicle according to claim 2, characterized by - a radio remote control which has a receiver unit built into the vehicle body and a transmitter for sending signals to the receiver unit from a remote position, - in which the receiving unit contains two motor driving circuits (54b, 54a), each of which is connected to the first and connected to the second motor (24b; 24a), - and in which the receiving unit creates two separate control signals from the signals, one of which serves each motor drive circuit, so that the motors can be controlled separately and individually. 5. Driving toy with the following individual parts: - a vehicle body having a front and a rear and a right and a left side , - a drive section in the rear of the vehicle body, which contains two separate motors, which are drive-directed via two separate reduction gears (25b + 26b; 25a + 26a) with a right-hand drive shaft and a left-hand drive shaft, respectively. drive shaft (19b; 19a) which can be driven separately by these motors, - right and left gears (14b; 14a) which are connected to the right and left drive shafts (19b; 19a) respectively, - right and left front gears (13b; 13a) which are rotatably mounted in the front area of the vehicle body, - right and left chains (15b; 15a), each over the front and rear wheels on the right left or right side, - wherein the chains (15b; 15a) have inwardly facing projections (21) which engage in corresponding - A3 - Teeth (20, 20') engage on the outside, - and the rear gears (14b; 14a) have a larger diameter than the front gears (13b; 13a), - and further in that the vehicle body has a tapered front end and a wedge-shaped height increasing towards the rear, with parts located in the front part which extend forwards to the tapered front end extending over the front parts of the front wheels protrude. 6. A toy vehicle according to claim 5, characterized in that the tapered front end appears tapered both in top view and in side view and that the height of the vehicle body increases from front to back. 7. A toy vehicle according to claim 6, characterized in that the vehicle body has horizontal and vertical wing parts. 8. A toy vehicle according to claim 5, characterized in that the reduction gear contains displaceable gears (28a; 28b; 27a; 27b) which enable at least two different switching ratios for each reduction gear, and in that a common gear shift lever (29) is connected to both reduction gears, with which the gears in both reduction gears and accordingly between the switching ratios can be switched simultaneously. 9. A driving toy according to claim 5, characterized in that - that the peripheral projections of the gears (13, 14) comprise two laterally spaced partial projections (20, 20') between which a - A4 - - A4 1 Deepening lies, - that each of the tooth-like projections of the chains comprises two laterally spaced partial projections (21, 21"), between each of which a raised projecting part (22), - and that the raised projecting part (22) moves into the recess when the lateral partial projections (20, 20') mesh with the partial projections (21, 21"). 10. Driving toy, with the following parts: - a vehicle body having a front and a rear and a right and a left side , - a drive section in the rear of the vehicle body, which contains two separate motors, which are connected in a drive-directed manner via two separate reduction gears (25b + 26b; 25a + 26a) to a right-hand drive shaft and a left-hand drive shaft, respectively. drive shaft (19b; 19a) which can be driven separately by the latter, - right and left gears (14b; 14a) which are connected to the right and left drive shafts (19b; 19a) respectively, - right and left front gears (13b; 13a) which are rotatably mounted in the front area of the vehicle body, - right and left chains (15b; 15a) which are respectively mounted on the front and rear wheels on the right and left sides, the chains (15b; 15a) having inward-facing projections (21) which engage corresponding teeth (20, 20') on the outside, - and the rear gears (14b; 14a) have a larger diameter than the front gears (13b; 13a), - and furthermore by the fact that the vehicle body is a - A5 - - A5 1 pointed front end and a wedge-shaped height increasing towards the rear, whereby the front parts of the chains, which are placed over the front parts of the front chain wheels (13a; 13b) are projecting forwards beyond the top of the vehicle body and any other part of the vehicle body, - a common gearshift lever (29) for both reduction gears, with which simultaneously the gears in both reduction gears can be switched between a high and a low gear , - a radio remote control comprising a receiver unit built into the vehicle body and a separate transmitter that can transmit signals to the receiver unit at a remote location, - in which the receiver unit contains two motor drive circuits (54b; 54a), each of which is connected to the first and connected to the second motor (24b; 24a), - and in which the receiver unit produces two separate control signals from the signals, one of which serves each motor drive circuit, so that the motors can be controlled separately, - wherein the vehicle body has a shaped body (11) which is mounted on a box-like chassis (2) is mounted, with the wing parts formed out of the body, - the drive unit is located in the rear part of the chassis and the receiver part is mounted on top of the chassis and covered by the body.