GB1584796A

GB1584796A - Musical toys

Info

Publication number: GB1584796A
Application number: GB4303677A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Nidec Sankyo Corp
Current assignee: Nidec Sankyo Corp
Priority date: 1977-07-23
Filing date: 1977-10-17
Publication date: 1981-02-18
Also published as: JPS5427792U; HK2082A

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO MUSICAL TOYS (71) We, KABUSHIKI KAISHA SANKYO SEIKI SEISAKUSEIO, a Japanese body corporate of 5329 Shimosuwa-Machi, Suwa-Gun Nagano-Ken, Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: - This invention relates to musical toys.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a musical toy comprising a toy casing formed with a portion simulating a face and having throughopenings in the region of the eyes of the simulated face, a musical movement housed within the casing, an eyeball display member supported within the casing so as to be movable reciprocably and such that simulated eyeballs of the eyeball-display member are positioned in the region of the through-openings, a mechanically-blown whistle housed within the casing, a first cam rotatably drivable by the musical movement to cause reciprocatory movement of the eyeball display member, and a second cam rotatably drivable by the musical movement to effect blowing of the whistle, the arrangement being such that operation of the musical movement causes reciprocatory movement of the eyeball display member and cyclic blowing of the whistle.

According to another aspect of the in vention; there is provided a musical toy comprising a casing formed with a portion simulating a face and having at least one through opening in the region corresponding to an eye or eyes of the face, an eyeball display member arranged within the casing to be reciprocably movable such that one or more simulated eyeballs provided on the display member can be seen through the at least one through opening to move, a prime mover and a musical movement driven therefrom both housed within the casing together with a mechanically-operable, forced-air sound producing device, and first and second cams arranged to be drivingly rotated by the prime mover and respectively further arranged to reciprocably move the eyeball display member and operate the sound producing device upon being rotated by the prime mover.

A musical toy embodying the invention will now be particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a front view, partly in section, of the toy; Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken on the line II-II in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken on line III 111 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a front view of the toy with a front casing removed to show various element of a musical movement of the toy mounted on a rear casing; Fig. 5 is a front view of an eyeball display member of the toy; Fig. 6 is a front view of two cams of the musical movement; Fig. 7 is a section of a mechanically- blown whistle of the musical toy; and Fig. 8 is a rear view of the rear casing.

As shown in Figure 1, a musical toy has an outer casing with an appearance which simulates the configuration of a bird or a chicken. The toy casing comprises a front casing 1 and a rear casing 3. The front casing 1 is formed with a face portion simulating the face of the little bird and has through-openings 11 in the region of the eyes of the bird simulated.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, the front casing 1 is provided internally with a plurality or hollow plate 12, a short hollow post 13, and a guide sleeve 14, the post 13 and the sleeve 14 being located on the longitudinal centre-line of the front casing 1.

In addition, the front casing 1 is formed with a bearing 15 in its upper portion, a centrally-located retaining element 16, a projection 17 located below the element 16, and two guide elements 18 (Fig. 4) located below the projection 17. As shown in Fig. 4, the retaining member 16 comprises two juxtaposed arms each formed with an arcuate notch 19 (Fig. 3) in its free end. A further notch 20 is formed centrally in the contour of the notch 19.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 and 8, the rear casing 3 is internally formed with hollow posts 31 which are located in opposing relationship with the posts 12 on the front casing 1. Each post 31 has an internal lip at its free end, the opposite end of the posts 31 being open to the exterior. The rear casing 3 is also formed with a bearing 32 which is located in opposing relationship with the bearing 15 on the front casing 1.

Additionally, the rear casing 3 is formed with a projection 33 which is located opposite the projection 17 on the front casing I with a slight clearance therebetween. The rear casing 3 is also formed with a retaining member 34 (Fig. 3) located in opposing relationship with the retaining member 16 on the front casing 1. The retaining member 34 is a hollow square pillar open, at its end at the casing 3, to the outside of the casing to function as an accoustical barrel. The inner end of the member 34 is formed with an arcuate notch 35. The rear casing 3 is internally formed with a suitable number of posts 36 in its upper portion for fixing the musical movement. The casing 3 is additionally formed with a guide element 37 and with additional guide elements 38 and 39 located successively therebelow.

These guide elements 37 to 39 are offset to the right of the centreline of the casing 3, when viewed from the front, as shown in Fig. 4. The guide elements 37 and 39 are aligned vertically while the guide element 38 is offset to the right thereof. As shown in Fig. 2, the guide element 37 has a substantial length and extends almost to the front casing 1. The top of the rear casing 3 is formed with a semi-circular eyelet 40, which may be engaged by a string 41, the other end of which may be secured to the ceiling of a room, thus suspending the toy therefrom.

While the material used for the front and rear casings is not limited to any particular material, they are preferably moulded from a synthetic resin material. The casings 1 and 3 are secured together by a selftapping screw 43 which is inserted into the post 31 of the rear casing 3 and which is threadably engaged with the post 12 on the front casing 1.

The musical box movements includes a baseplate 51 which is fixedly mounted on the posts 36. Various elements of the musical movement 5 are mounted on the baseplate, and include a prime mover 52 internally housing a spring, a drum 53 arranged to be rotated by the prime mover, a diaphragm 54 provided with an array of fingers arranged to be flipped by pins fixedly mounted on the peripheral surface of the drum to play a given musical tune, and a wind blade 55 which regulates the rotational speed of the drum 53 to be approximately constant. The prime mover 52 includes a shaft 56 which extends through the baseplate 51 to the opposite side thereof where a pulley 57 is coaxially and fixedly mounted on the shaft 56. A string 58 has one end anchored to the pulley 57 and is wound thereon through several turns.The other end of the string 58 extends through an opening in the bottom of the rear casing 3 and is fastened to a handle 59. A wall 42 closely surrounds the pulley 57 to prevent wound turns of the string 58 slipping off the pulley 57. A gear 60 is coaxially and fixedly mounted on the drum 53.

A hollow shaft 61 is rotatably and slidably fitted in the guide sleeve 14. As shown in Fig. 6, one end of the hollow shaft 61 is integrally formed with a first, petalshaped cam 62, and with a second cam 63 having a greater radial dimension than the cam 62 and having part of its peripheral surface formed as a ratchet wheel. The shaft 61 is also formed with a crown gear 64 (Fig. 3). The cams 62 and 63 and the gear 64 are all coaxial with the shaft 61. A coiled spring 65 is placed within the guide sleeve 14 to urge the hollow shaft 61 to the right, as viewed in Fig. 3, whereby the crown gear 64 is brought into meshing engagement with the gear 60. The spring 65 prevents an incomplete meshing engagement between the gear 60, 64 which might occur as a result of dimensional variation thereof.

As shown in Fig. 5, an eyeball display member 7 has a groove 71 into which is loosely fitted the post 13 formed on the front casing 1. The display member 7 includes a window slot 72 which is contiguous with the groove 71. A piece 73 extends rearwardly of the member 7 from one edge of the window slot 72. Another slot 74 is formed below the slot 72, and a card 76 having a pair of laterally spaced eyeball marks 75 depicted thereon is applied to the display member 7 between the slots 72 and 74. However, it should be understood that the eyeball marks 75 may be directly depicted on the display member 7. Toward its lower end, the display member 7 extends rearwardly and downwardly in the form of a crank. A tongue 77 extends from the lower end of the member 7.

The eyeball display member 7 is loosely fitted on the post 13 by means of the groove 71, and is locked against withdrawal by a washer 67 which is secured to the free end of the post 13 by means of a self-tapping screw 66. When the member 7 is mounted in this manner, the guide sleeve 14 loosely extends through the window slot 72 while the retaining member 16 loosely extends through the other window slot 74. However, the retaining member 16 gently contacts the opposite lateral edges of the win dow slot 74 to provide a guiding action for vertical sliding movement of the member 7, the extent of the vertical movement of the member 7 being limited by the window slot 74.The guide elements 18 are located close to opposite edges of the tongue 77 of the member 7, and the tongue 77 is alsd constrained between the projections 17 and 33, and as a result a vertical movement of the member 7 is only possible in a single plane. The eyeball display member 7 is located such that the eyeball marks 75 are disposed inside, but close to the pair of through-openings 11 formed in the front casing 1, and move up and down as the member 7 slides vertically. As shown in Fig. 6, the piece 73 of the member 7 bears under the weight of the member 7, against a peripheral surface of the first cam 61 at a position which is located just before (considered in relation to the sense of rotation of the cam 61) a vertical plane including the centre of rotation thereof.As a consequence, when the cam 62 rotates, the resulting movement is transmitted through the piece 73 to cause a vertical movement of the member 7. The reason for placing the piece 73 in abutment against a region of the cam 61 which is located just before a vertical plane including the centre of rotation thereof is to increase that component of the drive exerted by the cam 61 which is applied to the piece 73 to push it up, thus permitting an efficient operation of the eyeball display member 7. The rear surface of the eyeball display member is closely spaced from the free end of the guide element 37 on the rear casing 3 in order to prevent damage to the member 7 when it is externally pressled, by minimising flexure thereof by the guide element 37.

In addition to the musical movement 5, the toy includes a mechanically-operable, forced-air sound producing device which in the present embodiment is a mechanicallyblown whistle 8 with a body 81 which is held sandwiched between the notches formed in the whistle retaining members 16 and 34. The whistle 8 is constructed as shown in Fig. 7, its body 81 being shaped as a cylinder which is closed at one end while the other lend is integrally formed with a cylinder 82 of a greater diameter, into which a piston 83 is slidably fitted. A coiled spring 84 is disposed between the piston 83 and the open lend of the body 81, urging the piston 83 to slide outwardly.A sound producing portion 85 is formed along part of the periphery of the body 81 as an obliquely extending notch which communicates with the internal space within the cylindrical body 81, and the body 81 is formed with a lengthwise extending rib 86 at position diametrically opposite to the portion 85. The rib 86 fits in the notch 20 in the retaining member 16 to position the flute 8 so that the portion 85 is located opposite to the free end of tbe retaining member 34, which also serves as an acoustical barrel. The guide elements 37 and 39 bear against the vertically opposite sides of the cylinder 82 of the whistle 8, thus aiding the positioning thereof. The guide element 38 is located adjacent the outer end face of the piston 83 to prevent withdrawal thereof.

A shaft 68 is rotatably mounted in the bearings 15 and 32 of the front and rear casings. A lever 90 has its upper end secured to the shaft 68, and fixedly carries a pin 91 on its right-hand side and a pin 92 on its left-hand side, respectively, as viewed in Fig. 4. A springy 69 is disposed around the pin 91, and bears against the casing 3 and the lever 90, respectively, thereby urging the lever 90 to rotate clockwise. However, the rotation of the lever 90 is restricted by the abutment of the free end of the pin 92 against the profiled surface of the second cam 63. A tab 87 projecting from the piston 83 is biased by the spring 84 into abutment against the free end of the lever 90. The resilience of the spring 84 which causes a sliding movement of the piston 83 is less than the resilience of the spring 69 which tends to rotate the lever 90.As a consequence, when the second cam 63 rotates, its portion which is shaped in the form of a ratchet wheel causes oscillation of the lever 90.

When the lever 90 moves clockwise, the piston 83 is driven into the cylinder 82 to force air through the sound producing portion 85 to produce a sound therefrom.

In operation, when the handle 59 is pulled down, the string 58 unwinds from the pulley 57 while rotating the pulley 57, thus charging a spring within the prime mover 52 of the musical movement 5. Upon release of the handle 59, the charged spring causes rotation of the drum 53, which in turn causes the diaphragm 54 to be flipped, thus playing a given musical piece. Also, as the drum 53 rotates, the pair of cams 62 and 63 are also rotated through the gear 6 and the crown gear 64. The rotation of the cam 62 is effective to cause a vertically reciprocating movement of the eyeball display member 7 such that the eyeball marks 75 can be seen to move up and down through the through-openings 11.

Since the piece 73 of the member 7 bears against the cam 62 at a position which is offset from the centreline of the cam 62 as mentioned above, the eyeball marks 75 move slowly in the upward direction and rapidly in the downward direction. When the cam 63 rotates to a position in which the ratchet wheel portion engages the pin 92, the whistle 8 is intermittently operated, producing a sound which simulates the cry of a little bird, for example. Since the sound produced by the whistle 8 will enter the retaining member 34 which functions as the acoustical barrel, sound is not confined within the toy body but can be heard externally as a clear and loud sound.Since the whistle 8 does not operate during the time when the pin 92 on the lever 90 bears against the arcuate peripheral surface of the cam 63, the operating and non-operating periods of the whistle 8 alternate repeatedly.

While the musical movement parts operate as described above, the pulley 57 rotates in a sense to take up the string 58. The operational cycle of the toy is complete when a knot in the string 58 engages the toy body as shown in Fig. 2 and stops the prime mover 52. The entire cycle can now be repeated.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: l. A musical toy comprising a toy casing formed with a portion simulating a face and having through-openings in the region of the eyes of the simulated face, a musical movement housed within the casing, an eyeball display member supported within the casing so as to be movable reciprocably and such that simulated eyeballs of the eyeball-display member are positioned in the region of the throughopenings, a mechanically-blown whistle housed within the casing, a first cam rotatably drivable by the musical movement to cause reciprocatory movement of the eyeball display member, and a second cam rotatably drivable by the musical movement to effect blowing of the whistle, the arrangement being such that operation of the musical movement causes reciprocatory movement of the eyeball display member and cyclic blowing of the whistle.

2. A toy according to claim 1, in which the whistle has a sound producing portion thereof arranged in opposing relationship with an acoustical barrel.

3. A toy according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the eyeball display member is held in abutment, under its own weight, against a section of the camming surface of the first cam which is located before a vertical line including the centre point of the first cam, as viewed in the direction of rotation of the first cam when driven by the musical movement.

4. A toy according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the second cam has a camming surface so formed that the whistle is played only intermittently during operation of the musical movement.

5. A toy according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the first and second cams are integrally formed.

6. A toy according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the eyeball display member has a portion formed as a crank.

7. A musical toy comprising a casing formed with a portion simulating a face and having at least one through opening in the region corresponding to an eye or eyes of the face, an eyeball display member arranged within the casing to be reciprocably movable such that one or more simulated eyeballs provided on the display member can be seen through the at least one through opening to move, a prime mover and a musical movement driven therefrom both housed within the casing together with a mechanically-operable, forced-air sound producing device, and first and second cams arranged to be drivingly rotated by the prime mover and respectively further arranged to reciprocably move the eyeball display member and operate the sound producing device upon being rotated by the prime mover.

8. A musical toy according to claim 7, in which the casing is formed to simulate a bird or chicken.

9. A musical toy, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

producing a sound which simulates the cry of a little bird, for example. Since the sound produced by the whistle 8 will enter the retaining member 34 which functions as the acoustical barrel, sound is not confined within the toy body but can be heard externally as a clear and loud sound. Since the whistle 8 does not operate during the time when the pin 92 on the lever 90 bears against the arcuate peripheral surface of the cam 63, the operating and non-operating periods of the whistle 8 alternate repeatedly.

While the musical movement parts operate as described above, the pulley 57 rotates in a sense to take up the string 58. The operational cycle of the toy is complete when a knot in the string 58 engages the toy body as shown in Fig. 2 and stops the prime mover 52. The entire cycle can now be repeated.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: l. A musical toy comprising a toy casing formed with a portion simulating a face and having through-openings in the region of the eyes of the simulated face, a musical movement housed within the casing, an eyeball display member supported within the casing so as to be movable reciprocably and such that simulated eyeballs of the eyeball-display member are positioned in the region of the throughopenings, a mechanically-blown whistle housed within the casing, a first cam rotatably drivable by the musical movement to cause reciprocatory movement of the eyeball display member, and a second cam rotatably drivable by the musical movement to effect blowing of the whistle, the arrangement being such that operation of the musical movement causes reciprocatory movement of the eyeball display member and cyclic blowing of the whistle.
2. A toy according to claim 1, in which the whistle has a sound producing portion thereof arranged in opposing relationship with an acoustical barrel.
3. A toy according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the eyeball display member is held in abutment, under its own weight, against a section of the camming surface of the first cam which is located before a vertical line including the centre point of the first cam, as viewed in the direction of rotation of the first cam when driven by the musical movement.
4. A toy according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the second cam has a camming surface so formed that the whistle is played only intermittently during operation of the musical movement.
5. A toy according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the first and second cams are integrally formed.
6. A toy according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the eyeball display member has a portion formed as a crank.
7. A musical toy comprising a casing formed with a portion simulating a face and having at least one through opening in the region corresponding to an eye or eyes of the face, an eyeball display member arranged within the casing to be reciprocably movable such that one or more simulated eyeballs provided on the display member can be seen through the at least one through opening to move, a prime mover and a musical movement driven therefrom both housed within the casing together with a mechanically-operable, forced-air sound producing device, and first and second cams arranged to be drivingly rotated by the prime mover and respectively further arranged to reciprocably move the eyeball display member and operate the sound producing device upon being rotated by the prime mover.
8. A musical toy according to claim 7, in which the casing is formed to simulate a bird or chicken.
9. A musical toy, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.