GB2195261A - Toy boat - Google Patents

Abstract

A toy boat is driven by a water thruster unit 30 which includes an impeller 32 to drive water from an inlet in the underside of the boat along a duct 38 to an outlet 40 towards the aft of the boat. The impeller is preferably of the radial flow type with its axis upright and then an electric drive motor and associated battery can be mounted in a compact manner with their axes upright and can be kept dry by being positioned in a unit sealed at bottom and sides. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in toy boats This invention relates to toy boats and in particular to the way in which such boats are powered to move them around over a body of water.

Generally speaking, toy boats have been powered by some form of motor whether electrical or clock-work which drives a conventional propeller. In one arrangement, the motor is mounted in board and drives a propeller mounted in a conventional position on the outside of the boat.

With this arrangement, however, there are often difficulties in providing a good seal to prevent water entering through the propeller shaft mounting. Also the propeller generally has to be larger than is correct for a scale model.

Another arrangement consists of a sealed unit including an electric motor and battery with its own integral propeller and that unit has been mounted on the underside of the boat. Such an arrangement has proved quite effective for keeping the electric motor and battery dry but the size and the mounting of the unit makes it impossible for the model boat to simulate a real boat.

The invention has been made with these points in mind and aims to provide an electric motor driven propulsion for a model boat which can be incorporated into the model boat without significantly detracting from effective simulation of a full size model.

According to the invention, a toy boat has a water thruster unit which includes an impeller driven to force water along a duct including an outlet towards the aft of the boat, and a water inlet leading to thruster unit in the underside of the boat, so that a stream of water can be sucked in through the inlet and driven out through the outlet and the reaction of that stream water propells the toy boat.

With such an arrangement, it is only necessary to provide a relatively small outlet from the thruster unit and to provide one or more inlets on the underside of the boat for water for the thruster. These changes are not particularly visible from the outside and so need not affect the overall accurate simulation of the toy boat to a real boat. Thus the thruster unit can be housed entirely within the hull of the toy boat.

Preferably the water thruster unit is driven by means of an electric motor provided with power from one or more storage batteries.

There are also other advantages which accrue from an arrangement according to the invention in that it is relatively easy to mount the electric motor and the storage battery within the toy boat in a compact manner which does not interfere with the outer shape of the toy boat and therefore again the outside contours of the toy boat can remain an accurate simulation in proportion to a real boat. Further, the battery and motor are desirably mounted in an upright orientation in a unit which can be largely sealed at its bottom and sides and so prevent the ingress of water. It is therefore relatively simple.to keep the battery and motor dry in the normal use of the toy boat.

According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the thruster comprises a radial flow impeller mounted so as to rotate about an upright orientation. In this way, the impeller can take in water in an axial position and its rotation will impell the water circumferentially to a duct leading off tangentially from the impeller which then passes to a suitable water outlet near the stern of the boat to provide the necessary thrust to drive the boat along.

The outlet of the boat is preferably masked by means of a channel in the underside of the boat which can taper from a maximum depth near the outlet itself to flair in with the rest of the underneath of the hull in a direction away from the outlet.

One particular advantage of the invention is that the thruster unit can be supplied separately, optionally as a completed unit, and provided together with a kit of parts for assembling a model boat and the purchaser can then assemble the model and install the thruster unit at the same time so providing a boat which is a very accurate simulation but is selfpropelled.

The toy boat could be in the shape of any sort of floating object including all shapes of ships including submarines and any other form of floating toys such as a floating duck or swan as is well known in children's toys. The thruster unit can however readily be included in any of these types of toy boat and, as used herein, the term toy boat is intended to encompass all such possible outer shapes of floating object.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation with certain interior parts shown in broken lines of a model submarine made according to the invention; Figure 2 is an underneath view of that model submarine; Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of the thruster unit; and Figure 4 is an enlarged detailed side view showing the thruster unit and the associated motor and battery.

The toy submarine 10 shown in the drawings is an accurate simulation of a full size submarine. It has a hull 12 from which extends upwardly a conning tower 14 with a periscope 16 and other details at the top. The hull also carries simulated guns 17 and 18 and underneath at the rear are a pair of simulated propellers and propeller shafts 20. Near the front are hydrovanes 22 whilst at the rear is mounted a rudder 23 which is moveable and settable at an angle about an upright axis.

The rudder also carries a pair of aft hydrovanes 24.

As will be appreciated therefore, the toy model 10 is an accurate simulation in proportion of a conventional submarine. The propellers 20 however are not driven and are merely simulations of propellers and so can be an accurate size in proportion to the rest of the toy submarine.

The toy submarine is driven however by means of a thruster unit 30. This is mounted wholly within the hull 12 and conning tower 14 of the submarine and so does not affect the outer shape and appearance of the submarine at all.

The thruster unit 30 includes a radial impeller pump 32 which includes a radial impeller 33 having a number of integral vane 34 and an integral off-axis pin 35, and an outer housing 36. The outer housing has a tangential branch 37 leading off it through which the water is expelled and this branch leads to a duct 38. At the rear, the duct 38 has an outlet 40 and, as best shown in Figure 2, the outlet is buried in a channel-shaped groove 43 in the underside of the hull. This groove and the outlet are therefore not readily visible. The groove however tapers to fair in with the hull at its rear end near the propellers 20.

As best shown in Figure 2, a number of openings 44 are provided in the underside of the hull so that water can enter. The housing 36 has an axial opening 46 in its underside and water entering the hull is sucked into that opening and driven by the impeller 33 to the duct 38 and out through the outlet 40. It is in this way that the model submarine is propelled through the water by means of the reaction to this thrust of water.

The pin 35, which extends into the opening 46, stirs and disrupts any water meniscus formed across that opening and so prevents an air lock obstructing the passage of water into the pump 32 when the toy submarine is placed in water.

Steering can be effected by setting the rudder 23 at an appropriate angle and the water passing through the outlet 40 impinges on this and causes the submarine to turn according to the setting of the rudder.

As will be appreciated, the openings in the bottom of the hull mean that the boat will not itself inherently float through water displacement by the hull itself. Instead, therefore, buoyancy is provided by means of floats 52 and 54. These in a simple embodiment comprise pieces of polystyrene foam and under normal circumstances the submarine will take in water through the openings 44 in the bottom until a quantity is reached when there is sufficient displacement of water by the floats 52 and 54 to counter the weight of the submarine.

The submarine therefore will normally float in water at about the level of the water line 56 indicated.

To.provide stability, a metal ballast weight 58 is mounted within the hull at the base.

The impeller 33 is driven by means of an electric motor 60 and is mounted directly on the output shaft 62 of that motor. In turn the electric motor is powered from a small storage battery 64. It is obviously important to ensure that the battery and motor are kept dry and this is readily possible in the arrangement according to the invention. Thus, the motor and battery are mounted in an open topped box 66. Although this box is open at the top, it is sealed elsewhere and so under normal circumstances water cannot easily enter into the box.

The output shaft 62 of the motor passes through a sealed joint in the bottom of the box to connect with the impeller 33 which is totally submerged in the water which enters the interior of the hull. However, the water line 56 is well below the level of the open top of the box 66 and so in this way water does not normally enter the box and it is a relatively simple operation to ensure that the battery and the motor are kept dry and complicated seals and the like are therefore avoided.

At the top of the conning tower 14, a slidable fitting 70 is provided of which the periscope 16 and other components form part.

Joined to the underside of that fitting 70 and within the conning tower 14 is provided a slidable electrical contact 72. This sliding contact 72 has a rear position shown in Figure 4 where it does not engage the top of an upstanding contact 74 and a forward energized position where it does. It then completes a circuit with the top of the battery 64 to one terminal of the motor via a wire 75. The other terminal of the motor is joined directly to the lower end of the battery by means of a wire 76 and contact 78. The user can therefore control the operation of the thruster unit 30 by moving the fitting 70.

An important advantage of the invention is that the thruster unit 30 and the associated box 66 can be largely self-contained and so can be positioned in a toy floating object of almost any description. Thus, the boat may not be in the form of a submarine as shown but a common thruster unit 30 and box 66 can be provided for a range of floating objects. This is particularly useful in the event that the toy submarine is one which is to be assembled from a kit of parts since the outer hull can then be of any shape desired and the thruster unit and the box are sufficiently compact to fit into almost all shapes of floating objects without forcing significant changes in the outer shape and appearance of that object other than the provision of the outlet 40.

Claims (8)

1. A toy boat, as herein defined, having a water thruster unit which includes an impeller driven to force water along a duct including an outlet towards the aft of the boat, and a water inlet in the underside of the boat leading to the thruster unit, so that a stream of water can be sucked in through the inlet and driven out through the outlet and the reaction of that stream of water propells the toy boat.

2. A toy boat as claimed in Claim 1 in which the water thruster unit is driven by means of an electric motor provided with power from one or more storage batteries.

3. A toy boat as claimed in Claim 2 in which the battery and motor are mounted in an upright orientation in a unit sealed at its bottom and sides to prevent the ingress of water.

4. A toy boat as claimed in any preceding claim in which the thruster comprises a radial flow impeller mounted so as to rotate about an upright orientation, the impeller taking in water in an axial position and its rotation impelling the water circumferentially to a duct leading off tangentially from the impeller which then passes to a suitable water outlet near the stern of the boat to provide the necessary thrust to drive the boat along.

5. A toy boat as claimed in any preceding claim in which the outlet is masked by means of a channel in the underside of the boat which tapers from a maximum depth near the outlet itself to fair in with the rest of the underneath of the hull in a direction away from the outlet.

6. A toy boat as claimed in Claim 4 or Claim 5 in which the impeller has a non-axial projection extending through a water inlet opening to the thruster to disrupt any water meniscus which may form across that opening.

7. A boat as claimed in any preceding claim in which the hull of the boat is open to allow entry of water and buoyancy means are provided within the hull to allow the boat to float.

8. A toy boat substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.