EP2103335A1

EP2103335A1 - Transformable toy, and accommodating case for accommodating the transformable toy

Info

Publication number: EP2103335A1
Application number: EP09250732A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Takio Ejima
Original assignee: Tomy Co Ltd
Current assignee: Tomy Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-03-17
Filing date: 2009-03-16
Publication date: 2009-09-23
Also published as: JP2009219714A; US20090233519A1; CN101537257A; JP4598839B2

Abstract

A transformable toy (A) which can be instantly transformed by merely reversibly changing its state between a horizontal state and a vertical state, without operating the toy (A) with an intention to carry out transformation, and surprises and excites users; and an accommodating case (P) for accommodating the transformable toy (A). The transformable toy (A) includes weight members (10) swingably disposed therein and is reversibly transformed between first and second configurations by using a movement of the center of gravity (g) of the weight members (10). The transformable toy (A) assumes the first configuration in the horizontal state and the second configuration in the vertical state. The accommodating case (P) includes a fixing device (52), for fixing a bottom surface of the transformable toy (A) to a bottom plate (50) of the accommodating case (P) when the transformable toy (A) is in the first configuration, and an abutment portion (56), which abuts with a rear portion of the transformable toy (A).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a transformable toy which is reversibly transformed between two configurations, from a first configuration such as a vehicle or an animal to a second configuration such as a robot, or vice versa, and more particularly to a transformable toy which is reversibly transformed between a first configuration and a second configuration by means of a movement of the center of gravity of a weight member disposed inside the toy body, and an accommodating case for accommodating such a transformable toy.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, when a transformable toy is transformed during play, it has been required that each constituent part be manually operated and operating procedures have been complicated. Therefore, a transformable toy which can be transformed by a simple operation has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 9-10442 ). In this transformable toy, a first configuration is a vehicle configuration, a second configuration is a robot configuration, and a rear member is provided with a sliding member in a forwardly and backwardly slidable manner, the sliding member being formed with a rack, being partly exposed above the rear member, and having an operating element mounted thereon. When the sliding member is slid forwardly by operation of the operating element, the rack formed on the sliding member slides forwardly. A gear formed at an end portion of one of connecting links is in mesh with the rack, and therefore the connecting links are folded, pivoting about a pivoting shaft. A front member is pivotably connected to the other of the connecting links, and since the front member is foldably connected to the rear member, the front member is folded with respect to the rear member, and the front member and the rear member constitute a trunk portion in the robot configuration, the trunk portion being part of a second configuration.
Although even young children can enjoy the above-described transformable toy in that the toy can be transformed by a simple operation, namely, by operating a sliding member, the toy cannot surprise or excite users because they operate the sliding member with an intention to carry out the transformation.
Moreover, in selling transformable toys, it has been required that sellers prepare a large number of samples which can be directly touched and operated by buyers according to the types of transformable toys, in addition to articles for sale stored in accommodating cases for sale, so that buyers can buy transformable toys after checking their transformation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a transformable toy, based on a new idea, which can be instantly transformed by merely reversibly changing its state between a horizontal state and a vertical state, without operating the toy with an intention to carry out transformation, and give users a surprise and excitement.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an accommodating case for a transformable toy which allows the transformation of such a transformable toy to be checked while the toy is accommodated in the accommodating case, without the toy being taken out of the case and directly touched.
In order to solve the foregoing problems, according to the present invention, there is provided a transformable toy reversibly transformed between a first configuration and a second configuration. The transformable toy includes a toy body, and a weight member swingably disposed inside the toy body. The transformable toy is transformed by using a movement of a center of gravity of the weight member and assumes a first configuration in a horizontal state and a second configuration in a vertical state.
Preferably, the second configuration of the transformable toy is a robot configuration.
Further, preferably, the transformable toy includes a frame; a plurality of pivoting members pivotably provided on the frame, the pivoting members being constructed to show appearances differing before and after pivoting, the pivoting members showing the first configuration before pivoting and the second configuration after pivoting; and a pivoting mechanism disposed on the frame, the pivoting mechanism pivoting the pivoting members; and the weight member is disposed at a rear portion of the frame in a forwardly and backwardly swingable manner; a movement of the center of gravity of the weight member occurs during swinging; and the pivoting mechanism operates by using the movement of the center of gravity of the weight member as a driving force.
Moreover, desirably, the transformable toy includes a lock device for preventing swinging of the weight member, the lock device having a lock releasing member, the lock releasing member being partly protruded backwardly from a rear portion of the transformable toy when the transformable toy is in at least one of the first configuration and the second configuration; and prevention of the swinging of the weight member is released by pressing of the lock releasing member.
Moreover, an accommodating case for accommodating the transformable toy according to the present invention includes a fixing device for fixing a bottom surface of the transformable toy to a bottom surface of the accommodating case when the transformable toy is in the first configuration, and an abutment portion abutting with a rear portion of the transformable toy. The accommodating case permits swinging of the weight member, and allows the transformable toy to be reversibly transformed from the first configuration to the second configuration while being accommodated in the accommodating case.
According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to achieve a transformable toy, based on a new idea, which allows its configuration before and after transformation to be easily checked, without a special operation or replacement of constituent parts which is required for transformation of conventional transformable toys being carried out, because the transformable toy can be reversibly transformed between a first configuration and a second configuration by merely changing the state of the transformable toy from a horizontal state to a vertical state, or from a vertical state to a horizontal state.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, since the second configuration is a robot configuration, and a first configuration such as a running toy is reversibly transformed into a robot configuration, users can play with a first configuration such as a running toy and with a robot configuration.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the transformable toy can be instantly transformed, without its pivoting mechanism being operated from outside, by reversibly changing the state of the transformable toy between a horizontal state and a vertical state because a movement of the center of gravity of the weight member occurs and the pivoting mechanism for pivoting the pivoting members is operated by using the movement of the center of gravity as a driving force.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to achieve a transformable toy, based on a new idea, which gives users an impression that the transformable toy is transformed by magic in that transformation does not occur when its state is merely changed into a vertical state or a horizontal state, but the transformable toy can be transformed when a rear portion thereof is brought into abutment with a placement surface, because a lock device is provided to prevent swinging of the weight members so that a movement of the center of gravity does not occur spontaneously.
According to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a transformable toy which is very advantageous for both buyers and sellers in that buyers can easily check its transformation and sellers only need to prepare articles for sale, without needing to prepare samples, because buyers can check the transformation of transformable toys for sale displayed in stores without directly touching them and sellers need not provide transformable toy samples and can put various types of transformable toys in their stores, owing to the fact that the transformable toy is transformed, while being accommodated in an accommodating case, when the accommodating case is merely laid flat or erected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a running object, which is one example of a first configuration of a transformable toy according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state of the transformable toy which has been transformed into a robot, which is a second configuration;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an internal structure of the transformable toy;
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a lock device;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the transformable toy, in a vertical state, simulating the running object, which is the first configuration;
FIGS. 6A and 6B are operation explanatory diagrams showing the transformable toy, in a vertical state and in abutment with a placement surface, as viewed from a front side;
FIGS. 7A and 7B are operation explanatory diagrams showing the transformable toy, in a vertical state and in abutment with a placement surface, as viewed from a lateral side;
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of transformation of the transformable toy into a robot;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an accommodating case for accommodating the transformable toy; and
FIGS. 10A and 10B are perspective views showing the accommodating case, in a horizontal state and in a vertical state, accommodating the transformable toy.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows one example of a first configuration of the transformable toy A according to the present invention. In this example, the first configuration simulates a running object, and the transformable toy A can be transformed into a robot configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, when transformation into a second configuration is carried out.
The transformable toy A has a plurality of pivoting members 2 provided on a frame 1 and is adapted to be reversibly transformed between a first configuration and a second configuration by pivoting of the pivoting members 2.
The pivoting members 2 include a front cover 3 simulating a hood of a running object in the first configuration, an upper cover 5 simulating a roof thereof, and a head portion 42 of a robot in the second configuration, which will be described later. The front cover 3 includes two members: a right front cover member 3a simulating a right-side hood portion and a left front cover member 3b simulating a left-side hood portion. The rear cover 4 is fixed to the frame 1 and covers a pivoting mechanism B, which will be described later.
The rear cover 4 has simulated leg portions 4a formed at an upper surface thereof in the shape of semicylinders, simulating leg portions of the robot, the simulated leg portions 4a being covered by a sub-cover 5a mounted in a vertically pivotable manner at a rear end of the upper cover 5.
As shown in FIG. 3, the pivoting mechanism B pivots the right front cover member 3a, the left front cover member 3b, the upper cover 5, and the head portion 42 by using a movement of the center of gravity of weight members 10 as a power. The pivoting mechanism B is disposed on the frame 1 in a longitudinal direction. The pivoting mechanism B includes a driving shaft 18 having a crown gear 15, a driving gear 16, and a bevel gear 17; and a sector gear 20 for rotating the driving shaft 18 in response to forward and backward movements of the weight members 10, a rotation of the sector gear 20 being transmitted to the crown gear 15 through an intermediate gear 21.
The weight members 10 are fixed at both ends of a shaft 22 rotating by being journaled in a bearing (not shown), the shaft 22 having the sector gear 20 fixed at a substantially middle thereof. The weight members 10 are adapted to swing in forward and backward directions of the frame 1. When the weight members 10 swing, since the sector gear 20 coaxial with the weight members 10 also rotates forwardly and backwardly, the intermediate gear 21 meshing with the sector gear 20 rotates. Since the crown gear 15 fixed at a rear end of the driving shaft 18 is in mesh with the intermediate gear 21, the crown gear 15 is rotated, and the driving shaft 18 is rotated.
The weight members 10 are locked by a lock device C so that the weight members 10 do not pivot and movement of the center of gravity of the weight members does not occur when the state of the transformable toy A is merely changed from a horizontal state to a vertical state. As shown in FIG. 4, the lock device C includes a sliding member 23, which slides transversely by having protruding edges 23a formed in a transverse direction on upper and lower surfaces thereof guided by guide grooves (not shown), and a lock releasing member 24, which slides longitudinally by having protruding edges 24a formed in a longitudinal direction on upper and lower surfaces thereof guided by guide grooves (not shown). The sliding member 23 has an engaging claw 25, formed at a side surface thereof for engaging with and disengaging from an engaging recess 10a formed in one of the weight members 10, and an engaging protrusion 26, formed at a rear surface thereof for engaging with the lock releasing member 24. An end 26a of the engaging protrusion 26 and an end 24b of the lock releasing member 24 have inclined surfaces, and the inclined surfaces are adapted to slide along each other. The sliding member 23 is adapted so that the engaging claw 25 disengages from the engaging recess 10a of the weight member 10 when the lock releasing member 24 is pressed. When the transformable toy A is in a horizontal state and wheels are in contact with a placement surface, the weight members 10 are in a locked state. When the transformable toy A is in a vertical state and a back surface of the rear cover 4 is brought into abutment with a placement surface, the lock releasing member 24 is pressed by the placement surface into the rear cover 4, and the engaging claw 25 of the sliding member 23 disengages from the engaging recess 10a, whereby the lock is released. Thus, transformation does not occur when the transformable toy A is merely changed into a vertical state, and occurs only when a back surface of the rear cover 4 is brought into abutment with a placement surface.
Moreover, two crown gears 30 and 31 are in mesh with the driving gear 16 fixed at a substantially middle of the driving shaft 18 so as to sandwich the driving gear 16. The crown gears 30 and 31 have gears 32 and 33 integrally formed therewith, respectively, and arm members 34 and 35 for pivoting a right front cover member 3a and a left front cover member 3b are linked with the gears 32 and 33, respectively.
The arm members 34 and 35 include two arm elements 34a and 34b, and arm elements 35a and 35b, respectively, the arm elements being bent outwardly in a shape of a dog leg. The arm members 34 and 35 each have one end pivotably journaled on the frame 1 and the other end pivotably journaled on the right front cover member 3a and the left front cover member 3b, respectively. When the arm members 34 and 35 pivot outwardly, the right front cover member 3a and the left front cover member 3b pivot outwardly in parallel to the frame 1.
The arm element 34a and the arm element 35a have racks 36 and 37 formed in a shape of a sector at one end thereof, respectively, the racks 36 and 37 being in mesh with the gears 32 and 33, which are integral with the crown gears 30 and 31, respectively.
Moreover, a bevel gear 40 is in mesh with the bevel gear 17 fixed at a front portion of the driving shaft 18. The bevel gear 40 has a shaft 41 protruding through the rear cover 4 and having the upper cover 5 fixed at an end thereof.
Further, the driving shaft 18 has a head portion 42 of a robot, which is one of the pivoting members, mounted at an end thereof, the head portion 42 being adapted to be reoriented from backward to forward when the driving shaft 18 rotates by 180 degrees.
Next, a manner of operation of the transformable toy A having the above construction will be described. First, the transformable toy is brought into a vertical state, as shown in FIG. 5. In this state, since the rear cover 4 is off the placement surface a, as shown in FIG. 6A, the lock releasing member 24 protrudes from the rear cover 4. Accordingly, the sliding member 23 cannot be slid, the engaging claw 25 of the sliding member 23 is still engaged with the engaging recess 10a of the one of the weight members 10, and therefore the weight members 10 cannot pivot downwardly. Thus, the pivoting mechanism B does not operate (see FIG. 7A). Accordingly, the right front cover member 3a, the left front cover member 3b, the head portion 42, and the upper cover 5 do not pivot, and the transformable toy A maintains the same configuration as when it was in a horizontal state.
Next, when the transformable toy A is erected on a placement surface a in a vertical state, as shown in FIG. 6B, since the lock releasing member 24 is pressed into the rear cover 4, the sliding member 23 is slid leftward, and the engaging claw 25 disengages from the engaging recess 10a. Therefore, the locking of the weight members 10 by the engaging claw 25 is released, and, as shown in FIG. 7B, the weight members 10, whose center of gravity g was located laterally, pivot downwardly as the center of gravity g lowers. When the weight members 10 pivot downwardly, since the sector gear 20 fixed to the shaft 22 of the weight members 10 rotates downwardly, the intermediate gear 21 in mesh with the sector gear 20 rotates, the crown gear 15 rotates, and the driving shaft 18 rotates.
When the driving shaft 18 rotates, since the driving gear 16 fixed to the driving shaft 18 also rotates, the crown gears 30 and 31 in mesh with the driving gear 16 rotate. Since the rack 36 of the arm element 34a of the arm member 34 is in mesh with the gear 32 integral with the crown gear 30, and the rack 37 of the arm element 35a of the arm member 35 is in mesh with the gear 33 integral with the crown gear 31, the arm members 34 and 35 pivot outwardly, and the right front cover member 3a and the left front cover member 3b begin to move away from the frame 1 (see FIG. 8).
Meanwhile, since the bevel gear 17 fixed to the driving shaft 18 also rotates, the bevel gear 40 in mesh with the bevel gear 17 also rotates, and the upper cover 5 fixed to the shaft 41 of the bevel gear 40 also begins to rotate. Moreover, the head portion 42 fixed at an end of the driving shaft 18 also begins to rotate.
When the center of gravity g of the weight members 10 has moved to a position directly under the shaft 22, the rotation of the sector gear 20 stops, and the pivoting mechanism B also stops. In this state, as shown in FIG. 2, the right front cover member 3a and the left front cover member 3b have moved to the outside, constituting arms of the robot, the head portion 42 is exposed, with its face oriented forwardly, the upper cover 5 has been vertically inverted, the simulated leg portions 4a formed on the rear cover 4 are exposed and showing legs of the robot, and the sub-cover 5a, which was hiding the simulated leg portions 4a in the running-object configuration, has flipped down forwardly under its own weight and is no longer hiding the head portion 42. Thus, the transformable toy can be instantly transformed from a running-object configuration to a robot configuration.
Meanwhile, when the transformable toy in the robot configuration is restored to its horizontal state, since the center of gravity g of the weight members 10 moves forwardly, the driving shaft 18 rotates in the opposite direction. The driving gear 16 and the bevel gear 17 mounted on the driving shaft 18 rotate in the opposite direction, and the right front cover member 3a, the left front cover member 3b, the upper cover 5, and the head portion 42 are restored to their original states. Thus, the transformable toy can be instantly restored from the robot configuration to the running-object configuration.
Moreover, the lock device C may be disposed at a rear portion (back side) in the robot configuration, and an end of the releasing member 24 may be protruded from the back side (this construction is not shown). By being constructed in this manner, the transformable toy is not restored to the first configuration when it is merely restored to its horizontal state but can be restored to the running-object configuration, which is the first configuration, when a back of the robot is brought into abutment with a placement surface.
Next, an accommodating case P for accommodating the above-described transformable toy A will be described. The accommodating case P is a rectangular parallelepiped box formed of a transparent material and has an opening at a front portion thereof for taking out and putting in the transformable toy A, the opening being formed so as to be closable by a flap lid. The accommodating case P is adapted so that the transformable toy A is accommodated therein when the transformable toy A is in the state of a running object, which is the first configuration, as shown in FIG. 9. The accommodating case P is provided, at a bottom plate 50 thereof, with a base 51 for lifting the transformable toy A so as not to stick to the bottom plate 50, the base 51 having a through-hole 53 at a center thereof for inserting a screw 52, which is a fixing device; and a supporting plate 55 for supporting the transformable toy A so as not to stick to a rear wall 54. The rear wall 54 of the accommodating case P is provided with an abutment portion 56, which abuts with the lock releasing member 24 protruding backwardly from a rear portion of the transformable toy A and presses in the lock releasing member 24. When the transformable toy A is accommodated in the accommodating case P and the lock releasing member 24 is pressed against the abutment portion 56, the screw 52 is screwed into a screw hole 57 formed at a bottom portion of the transformable toy A from a back side of the accommodating case P, and the transformable toy A is fixed in the accommodating case P, as shown in FIG. 10A.
In this state, when the accommodating case P is erected, since the lock releasing member 24 has already been pressed in by the abutment member, the engaging claw 25 of the sliding member 23 has disengaged from the engaging recess 10a of the one of the weight members 10, and the locking of the weight members 10 has been released, a movement of the center of gravity of the weight members 10 occurs, and the pivoting mechanism B operates. Thus, the transformable toy A is instantly transformed from a running-object configuration to a robot configuration (see FIG. 10B).
As described above, it is possible to provide a transformable toy which is advantageous for both buyers and sellers in that buyers can easily check its transformation and sellers only need to prepare articles for sale, without needing to prepare samples, because buyers can check the transformation of transformable toys for sale displayed in stores without directly touching them and sellers need not provide a transformable toy sample, for any of the various types of transformable toys which sellers may put in their stores, owing to the fact that the transformable toy A is transformed when the accommodating case P accommodating the transformable toy A is merely changed from a horizontal state to a vertical state.

Claims

A transformable toy (A) reversibly transformed between a first configuration and a second configuration, characterized by comprising:
a toy body; and

a weight member (10) swingably disposed inside the toy body, wherein the transformable toy (A) is transformed by using a movement of a center of gravity (g) of the weight member (10) and assumes a first configuration in a horizontal state and a second configuration in a vertical state.
The transformable toy (A) according to claim 1, characterized in that the second configuration of the transformable toy (A) is a robot configuration.
The transformable toy (A) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by further comprising:
a frame (1);

a plurality of pivoting members (2) pivotably provided on the frame (1), the pivoting members (2) being constructed to show appearances differing before and after pivoting, the pivoting members (2) showing the first configuration before pivoting and the second configuration after pivoting; and

a pivoting mechanism (B) disposed on the frame (1), the pivoting mechanism (B) pivoting the pivoting members (2),
wherein the weight member (10) is disposed at a rear portion of the frame (1) in a forwardly and backwardly swingable manner; a movement of the center of gravity (g) of the weight member (10) occurs during swinging; and the pivoting mechanism (B) operates by using the movement of the center of gravity (g) of the weight member (10) as a driving force.
The transformable toy (A) according to claim 1, 2, or 3, characterized by further comprising:
a lock device (C) for preventing swinging of the weight member (10), the lock device (C) having a lock releasing member (24), the lock releasing member (24) being partly protruded backwardly from a rear portion of the transformable toy (A) when the transformable toy (A) is in at least one of the first configuration and the second configuration,
wherein prevention of the swinging of the weight member (10) is released by pressing of the lock releasing member (24).
An accommodating case (P) for accommodating a transformable toy (A) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the accommodating case (P) being characterized by comprising:
a fixing device (52) for fixing a bottom surface of the transformable toy (A) to a bottom surface of the accommodating case (P) when the transformable toy (A) is in the first configuration; and

an abutment portion (56) abutting with a rear portion of the transformable toy (A),
wherein the accommodating case (P) permits swinging of the weight member (10), and allows the transformable toy (A) to be reversibly transformed from the first configuration to the second configuration while being accommodated in the accommodating case (P).