GB2085739A - Child's ride-on vehicle carrying a spring gun - Google Patents

Abstract

The vehicle is constructed so that a child may sit on it with his legs on either side and drive it with leg strokes kicking the ground and has a front housing provided with gun barrels 13 for firing ping-pong balls or simulated bullets. Each barrel includes a compression spring or a plate spring 32 and a shooting lever 14, balls being fed to the barrels via openings 12. The front housing 2 may be turnable about a shaft 30 on release of a push button 11. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Vehicle for children The present invention relates to a vehicle for children and particularly to a construction for a vehicle for children improved to arouse the interest of children much more.

What is of particular interest to the present invention is vehicles for children of the type in which a child sits on the vehicle with the legs on either side and drives it with leg strokes kicking the ground.

Such vehicles for children in various styles simulating automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, locomotives, streetcars, animals and many other forms have appeared on the market. Such a variety of static shapes should not go unheeded from the standpoint of arousing the interest of children.

Besides this, it is considered that dynamic variations will more intensively arouse the interest of children particularly where such variations are of unexpected nature.

Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide a vehicle for children having not only a static shape which arouses the interest of children but also a dynamic function.

In brief, the invention provides a vehicle for children provided with a pop-out type toy comprising shooting operative means and a spring adapted to be resiliently actuated by operating said shooting operative means to shoot a false bullet.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the for lowing detailed description given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, showing the external appearance of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, showing the internal mechanism of a pop-out type toy 5 and the relation between a front housing 2 and a body remainder 3, shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a right-hand side view, partly in section, showing the front of a vehicle for children shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the vehicle for children taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, showing the external appearance of an embodiment of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, the arrangement of an embodiment of the invention will be described in outline only. A vehicle for children in this embodiment has a vehicle body 1 made of rigid plastic or the like. The vehicle body 1 is formed with a front housing 2. A body remainder 3, excluding said front housing 2, is prepared in the form of a molding separate from the front housing 2. As will be described later in more detail, the front housing 2 is supported so that it can be opened and closed with respect to the body remainder 3. A seat 4 is provided on top of the body remainder 3. The rear portion of the body remainder 3 is provided with a handle 10. The relatively forward portion of the body remainder 3 is provided with an upwardly projecting steering wheel 7. The bottom of the body remainder 3 has front wheels 8 and rear wheels 9, two each, rotatably mounted thereon.The front wheels 8 may be arranged so that they can be turned around the axis of the steering wheel 7 by operating the steering wheel 7.

The front end of the vehicle body 1 is provided with a push button 11. This push button 11 is operated in order to establish a state in which the front housing 2 is opened with respect to the body remainder 3, as described above.

The front housing 2 is provided with a pop-out type toy 5 which is characteristic of the present invention, said pop-out type toy 5 comprising a pair of gun barrels 13.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, showing the internal mechanism of the pop-out type toy 5, and the relation between the front housing 2 and the body remainder 3. Fig. 3 is a right-hand side view, partly in section, showing the front of the vehicle for children shown in Fig. 1, particularly showing the relation between the internal mechanism concerning the push button 11 and the front housing 2. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

Referring to Figs. 1 through 3, an opening and closing mechanism and a locking mechanism for the front housing 2 will first be described. In the arrangement, as shown in Fig. 2, the front housing 2 is held on a shaft 30 so that it can be turned in the direction of arrow D with respect to the body remainder 3. A spring 31 is installed around the shaft 30. The spring 31 abuts at its ends against the front housing 2 and the body remainder 3, in the known manner, urging the front housing 2 in the direction to open it. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 3, the rear end of the push button 11 is formed with an engaging member 23. A guide pin 21 extends rearwardly from these engaging member 23 and push button 11. The guide pin 21 is slidably guided by a guide member 20. The guide member 20 is fixed to the body remainder 3 by a screw 22.A compression spring 19 is installed between the guide member 20 and the engaging member 23 in such a manner as to surround the guide pin 21, thereby urging the push button 11 in the direction of arrow Eat all times.

Further, the front lower end of the engaging member is formed with an engaging hole 17.

The opening and closing operation of the front housing 2 will now be described. In the normal state of this vehicle for children, the engagement between the engaging member 23 and the engaging hole 17 is maintained by the resilient force of the compression spring 19, with the front housing 2 closed with respect to the body remainder 3. If, however, the push button 11 is pushed in, in the direction of arrow F, against the resilient force of the compression spring 19, the engagement between the engaging member 23 and the engaging hole 17 is canceled. In response thereto, the front housing 2 assumes an opened state with respect to the body remainder 3 owing to the resilient force of the spring 31.

The arrangement described above is made for the purpose of arousing the interest of children but it is not absolutely necessary to the present invention and may be omitted. For example, the front housing 2 and the body remainder 3 may be integrally con structed.

The pop-out type toy 5, which is characteristic of the present invention, will now be described with reference to Figs. 1 through 4. The pop-out type toy 5 is installed on the front housing 2, as described previously. More particularly, the front housing 2 has a large opening, in which the pop-out type toy 5 is fitted. As best shown in Fig. 2, the front housing 2 is formed with U-shaped receiving portions 27 for receiving insert portions 26 projecting downwardly from the lower end edge of the pop-out type toy 5.

On the other hand, the rear portion of the pop-out type toy 5 is clamped down against the front housing 2 by a screw 28, whereby the pop-out type toy 5 is fixed to the front housing 2.

The arrangement of the pop-out type toy 5 will now be described in more detail. As shown in Fig. 1, the pop-out type toy 5 is provided with a pair of shooting levers 14to serve as shooting operative means. Each shooting lever 14, as shown in Fig. 2, is turnably supported on a shaft 25. The bottom of the shooting lever 14 is formed with a plate spring receiving opening 35. Further, in opposed relation to the lower end of the shooting lever 14, a recess 36 is formed in the inner wall surface of the gun barrel 13.

A plate spring 32 is held at its ends in said plate spring receiving opening 35 and recess 36. In addition, the ceiling of the plate spring receiving opening 35 and the bottom of the recess 36 are provided with metal seats 33 and 34, respectively, for contact with the opposite ends of the plate spring 32. These metal seats 33 and 34 are for the purpose of reinforcing the surfaces which support the plate spring 32. As best shown in Fig. 2, the plate spring 32 is held in a bowed state. Therefore, the shooting lever 14 is always urged in a direction opposite to the direction of arrow B by the resilient force of the plate spring 32. A pair of stops 37 are formed on the inner wall surface of the lower portion of the gun barrel 13.

These stops 37 serve to keep a charged false bullet 29 from contacting the plate spring 32 before it is shot. As for the shooting operative means, a shooting button or the like may be provided in place of said shooting lever 14.

A description will now be given of how false bullets 29 are charged into the pop-out type toy 5. In addition, ping-pong balls or the like are used as false bullets 29. Ping-pong balls are advantageous in that they are safe and readily available. As shown in Fig.

4, false bullets 29 inserted into a insert opening 12 are guided to the front of the plate spring 32, namely, to the effective resilient force region of the plate spring 32, along a guide passageway 15. In this case, the foremost false bullet 29 is positioned with a spacing defined between it and the plate spring 32 because of the presence of the pair of stops 37, as described above. In addition, in Fig. 4, the arrangement is such that three false bullets 29 can be charged in advance. However, arrangement may be made for charging more false bullets or, reversely, only one or two false bullets 29.

The shooting operation of the pop-out type toy 5 will now be described. First, false bullets 29 are charged through the insertion opening 12 in the manner described above, and the operating lever 14 is turned in the direction of arrow B. Thereupon, the distance between the ends of the plate spring 32 is reduced while the plate spring 32 is pushed out by the rear of the lower end of the shooting lever 14, with the curved state of the plate spring resiliently changing into one shown in phantom lines in Fig. 2.

At this time, the plate spring 32 strikes the false bullet 29 charged in advance. In response thereto, the false bullet 29 is pushed out with force in the direction of arrow C, thus being shot from the gun barrel 13. In addition, the false bullet 29 charged in the manner described above is spaced apart from the pair of stops 37. Therefore, the instantaneous per cussive force applied to the false bullet 29 by the plate spring 32 is increased, whereby the false bullet 29 is powerfully shot from the gun barrel 13.

When the force applied to the shooting lever 14 is removed after the false bullet 29 has been shot, the lever 14 is returned to its pre-shooting position by the resilient force of the plate spring 35. Therefore, simply removing the hand from the shooting lever 29 subsequent to the shooting of the false bullet 29 makes the pop-out type toy ready for the next shooting.

As has been described so fat, the vehicle for children in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 through 4 gives a child not only the pleasure of driving it with the child on the seat 4 kicking the ground with leg strokes, but also the pleasure of shooting false bullets 29, thereby further arousing the interest of children.

Further, if such a vehicle for children is marketed in combination with a target, this will further arouse the interest of children, since this gives children the pleasure of hitting the target with a false bullet, such as a ping-pong ball, in addition to the pleasure of shooting the false bullet.

While the pop-out type toy 5 in the above embodiment has been described as being mounted on the front of the vehicle body 1, namely, on the front housing 2, it may be mounted, e.g., on the side ofthe body remainder 3, the position thereof not being limited to the front of the vehicle body 1.

Further, the plate spring 32 for imparting a shooting force to a false bullet 29 may be replaced by a simple compression spring or the like. In that case, such compression spring is constrained in a compressed state. Thus, the shooting lever 14 will be constructed so as to release the compression spring from the constraint when operated. The compression spring, when released from the constraint, strikes a preloaded false bullet 29, thereby shooting the latter.

In the embodiment described above, the pop-out type toy 5 and the front housing 2 are separate parts.

These separate parts may be of any from convenient for molding operation, not being limited to the forms illustrated in the above embodiment. It may be considered to construct the pop-out type toy 5 and front housing 2 as a unit depending upon the molding technique employed. Further, the pop-out type toy 5 and front housing 2 which are thus constructed as a unit may be fixedly secured to the body remainder 3.

Further, in the embodiment described above, ping-pong balls have been used as false bullets 29, but other forms may be used. For example, a form made of soft plastic and shaped to simulate a bullet may be used.

Claims (9)

1. A vehicle for children provided with a pop-out type toy (5) comprising shooting operative means (14) and a spring (32) adapted to be resiliently actuated by operating said shooting operative means (14) to shoot a false bullet (29).

2. A vehicle for children as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pop-out type toy (5) comprises: a guide passageway (15) for guiding said false bullet (29) to the effective resilient force region of said spring (32), and a bullet path defining passageway (13) for defining a predetermined portion of the path of the bullet (29) shot by said spring (32).

3. A vehicle for children as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein said shooting operative means (12), said springs (32), said guide passageways (15), and said bullet path defining passageways (13) are provided in a symmetrically disposed pair, respectively.

4. A vehicle for children as set forth in any of claims 1 through 3, wherein said false bullets (29) are ping-pong balls.

5. A vehicle for children as set forth in any of claims 1 through 4, wherein said shooting operative means (14) comprises a shooting lever (14).

6. A vehicle for children as set forth in claim 2, wherein said pop-out type toy (5) is positioned on the front (2) of the vehicle.

7. A vehicle for children as set forth in claim 6, wherein said bullet path defining passageway (13) is forwardly directed relative to the vehicle, so that the false bullet (29) shot by the spring (32) is thrown out forwardly of the vehicle.

8. A vehicle for children as set forth in claim 6 or 7, wherein the front (2) of the vehicle on which said pop-out type toy (5) is positioned is turnable, like a bonnet, with respect to the remainder (3) of the vehicle excluding said front (2).

9. A child's vehicle substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.