GB2198655A

GB2198655A - Magnetic toy

Info

Publication number: GB2198655A
Application number: GB08630159A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yoshio Udagawa
Original assignee: TOPLAY; Dah Yang Toy Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: TOPLAY; Dah Yang Toy Industrial Co Ltd
Priority date: 1986-12-17
Filing date: 1986-12-17
Publication date: 1988-06-22
Also published as: GB8630159D0

Abstract

A toy includes magnetic toy pieces 30 movable under gravity along a trackway 20 from end 21 to end 22 and movable from end 22 to end 21 of the trackway by the attraction of magnet pieces 40 which are moved along a circular path 41 by a motor-operated driving mechanism 6. The assembly provides an impression that the toy pieces 30 jump through a gap between the ends 21 and 22 of the trackway. Pieces 30 may coact with profile 44 to produce head-bobbing feeding motions towards young birds 14, which may themselves be oscillated (figures 7, 8). Instead of birds, the pieces 30 may represent fishes, jumping through a loop (figure 9). <IMAGE>

Description

TRAVELLING TOY This invention relates to a travelling toy, particularly to a toy having magnetic toy pieces travelling on a trackway by gravity and jumping from one terminating end of the trackway to the other by a driving mechanism that moves the toy pieces by magnetic attraction.

The invention provides a toy assembly which comprises a frame having an upstanding plate with a front face and a rear face, .a descending trackway mounted on said-frame and-having an upper terminating end and a lower terminating end disposed adjacent the front face of the plate, the upper and lower terminating end being spaced to have a gap therebetween, magnetic toy pieces to move on the trackway by gravity; and a driving mechanism disposed behind the upstanding plate, and having a rotary circular member disposed adjacent to the rear face of the upstanding plate, and a magnetic attraction means mounted on the circular member at a location corresponding to the lower and upper terminating ends and moving along with the circular member so as to move the magnetic toy pieces by magnetic attraction from the lower terminating end to the upper terminating end along a predetermined path.When the driving mechanism operates, the magnetic attraction means moves along a circular path together with the circular member and attracts the toy pieces from the lower end of the trackway to the upper end from which the toy piece slides downward by gravity, providing an impression that the toy pieces slide downward along the trackway by.gravity and jump across the gap from the lower end to the upper end of the trackway. The toy pieces may be fabricated to simulate different animals and the front face of the upstanding plate member may be printed with different pleasent figures to be extremely appealing and amusing to children.

The trackway is a turning trackway which is designed particularly so that it does not need much length and height differential, but enables the toy pieces to turn and slide downward easily. Unlike the conventional turning trackways which should have much height differential to permit the toy piece to slide down smoothly and much turning length to permit the toy piece to turn easily, the turning trackway according to the present invention can be fabricated with a reduced volume and reduced amount of raw materials.The trackway includes a turning section, an upstream straight section extending from the upper terminating end to the turning section and being sloped down with a first predetermined slope, and a downstream straight section extending from the turning section towards the lower terminating end and being sloped down with a second predetermined slope, the axes of the upstream and downstream sections lying in two spaced parallel vertical planes. The turning section includes a first portion being sloped upward and extending forward from the upstream section with a predetermined inclination relative to either one of the parallel vertical planes, and a second portion connected and forming an angle with the first portion and being sloped downward along the same line as the downstream section.The direction of the upstream and downstream sections are opposite to one another but the slopes of the upstream and downstream sections may be equal. The inclination angle of the first portion of the turning section relative to the parallel vertical planes is smaller than 90 deg.

The present exemplary preferred embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings, in which; Figure 1 is a front elevation view of the toy assembly of first embodiment; Figure 2 is an elevation view of a simulated bird; Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a schematic view of the toy assemboy showing the driving mechanism in more detail; Figure 7 is a front elevation view showing camming protrusions of the rotatable circular member used for camming the young birds; Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8-8 of Figure 7; and Figure 9 is a front elevation view of a toy assembly of second embodiment.

Referring to Figures 1 to 6, an embodiment of the toy assembly according to the present invention is shown, including a frame 1 which has a base 12, an upstanding front plate member 16, which front side 13 is printed with trees, has a non-magnetic figure piece, i.e. a simulated nest 15, mounted thereon with young birds 14 therein. At the rear side of the front plate member 13 is a casing 18 for housing a driving mechanism 6. At the front face 13 of the front plate member 16 is a fence plate 19 on which is printed animals and the like.

A trackway 20 is disposed at the front of the front plate member 16. As is better shown in Figures 4 and 5, the trackway 20 has a turning section 23 at a distance from the front plate member 16, a straight upstream section 24 and a straight downstream section 25. The upstream section 24 extends from an upper terminating end 21 to the turning section 23 and is sloped down with a predetermined slope. The straight downstream section 25 extends from the turning section 24 towards an lower terminating end 22 adjacent to the front plate member 16, and is sloped down with the same slope as but in an opposite direction relative to the upstream section 24. The axes of the upstream and downstream sections 24 and 25 lie in two adjacently spaced parallel vertical planes.

The turning section 23 enables the trackway 20 to extend to the left and then turns to the right to reach a location of lower level adjacent to the front face 13 of the vertical plate member 16. The turning section 23 includes a first portion 26 sloped upward with the same slope as the downstream section 25 and extending forward from the upstream section 24 with a predetermined inclination relative to either one of the parallel vertical planes. A second portion 27 of the turning section 23 is connected to and forms an angle with the first portion 26 and is sloped downward along the same line as the downstream section 25.

The inclination angle of the first portion 26 of the turning section 23 relative to the parallel planes is smaller than 90 deg. Downstream of the downstream section 25 is a section 28 which is directed to the front face 13 of the vertical plate 16 to reach the lower terminating end 22. The turning trackway so arranged need not have as a long length as required in the conventional turning trackways, and in addition, permits the moving toy pieces to slide downward easily therealong by gravity without much height differential and turn smoothly without much space to make a turn.

Two magnetic simulated birds 30 are provided to slide along the trackway 20 and to jump across a gap between the upper end 21 and the lower end 22 of the trackway 20. As better shown in Figure 2, each simulated bird 30 incorporates a magnetic piece 31 and two rollers 32.

The driving mechanism 6 includes batteries 34 provided in a battery casing 35 mounted in the casing 18 so as to operate a motor 36. The motor 36 is connected to a speed reducing gear assembly 37 which in turn is connected to a shaft 38 journalled in a plate 17. The shaft 38 is connected to a rotatable circular plate 33 to which are attached two magnet holding members 39 at two diametrically opposite positions.

Two magnet pieces 40 are mounted on the holding members 39. The holding members 39 are arranged in such a manner that, when the rotatable circular member 33 rotates, they carry the magnet pieces 40 and move along a circular path 41 that passes the upper and lower terminating ends of the trackway 20.

In operation, each magnet piece 40 mounted on the motor operated circular member 33 attracts each bird 30 which has reached the lower end 22 and lifts it to the nest 14 along the circular path 41 and then to the upper end 21 of the trackway 20 from the nest 14. When the bird 30 reaches the upper end 21 of the trackway 20, it slides down along the straight upstream section 23 by gravity, moves upward along the first portion 26 of the turning section 23 and then slides down again along the second portion 27 of the turning section 23 and the downstream sections 25 and 28.

As is shown in Figure 1, the simulated nest 15 has a back plate 43 abutted with and mounted on the front face 13 of the front plate 16. The back plate 43 has a wavy camming edge 44 close to the circular path 41 of the magnet pieces 40. So that, when each bird 30 reaches the camming edge 44, the bird 30 is cammed by the wavy edge 44 and moves forward simultaneously with up-and-down movement of its head. This provides an impression that the bird 30 is feeding its young birds 14.

Referring to Figures 7 and 8, the young birds 14 may be provided with an arrangement that causes them to make a motion simulating a real action of the young birds waiting for food. A one piece plastic molded body 46 is shaped to the two simulated young birds 14 and is pivoted to the front plate 16 with a pin 47.

The lower part of the body 46 is attached with another pin 48 which projects to the rear side of the front plate 16. The circular plate member 33 is further provided with a plurality of camming protrusions 49 annularly distributed so as to cam the pin 48 to move to and fro when the circular plate member 33 is rotated. When the camming protrusions 49 one after the other cam the pin 48, the body 46 will swing to and fro, providing an impression that the two birds 14 rise alternatingly to take food from the bird 30.

While the above-described embodiment includes simulated birds, the invention is not limited only thereto. The magnetic toy pieces may be in any other shape, and the configuration of the toy assembly may be further modified.

Figure 9 shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention in which the elements similar to those illustrated in the previous embodiment are represented by the same reference numerals. The assembly in this embodiment is substantially similar to that of the first embodiment except the picture printed on the front plate 16 including aquatic plants and fish, and the magnetic toy pieces being fish 50. A loop member 51 is attached to the front plate 16. When a fish 50 is carried by the magnetic attraction pieces 40, the fish 50 passes through the loop 51, giving an impression that the fish 50 jump through the loop 51.

With the invention thus explained, it is apparent that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that the invention be limited as indicated in the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 A toy assembly comprising: a frame having an upstanding plate with a front face and a rear face; a descending trackway mounted on said frame and having an upper terminating end and a lower terminating end disposed adjacent the front face of the upstanding plate, the upper and lower terminating end being spaced to have a gap therebetween; a magnetic toy piece to move on the trackway by gravity; and a driving mechanism disposed behind the upstanding plate and having a rotary circular member disposed adjacent to the rear face of the upstanding plate, and a magnetic attraction means mounted on the circular member at a location corresponding to the lower and upper terminating ends and moving along with the circular member so as to move the magnetic toy piece by magnetic attraction from the lower terminating end to the upper terminating end along a predetermined path, whereby the toy assembly gives an impression that toy pieces slide downward along the trackway by gravity and jumps across the gap from the lower end to the upper end of the trackway.

2. A toy assembly as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the magnetic attraction means includes a plurality of magnetic attraction members disposed circumferentially on said circular member.

3. A toy assembly as claimed in claimlor2,wherein the descending trackway includes a turning section, an upstream straight section extending in a first direction from the upper terminating end to the turning section and being sloped down with a first predetermined slope, and a downstream straight section extending forward in a second direction opposite to the first direction from the turning section towards the lower terminating end and being sloped down with a second predetermined slope, the axes of the upstream and downstream sections lying in two adjacently spaced parallel vertical planes, the turning section including a first portion being sloped upward and extending forward from the upstream section with a predetermined inclination relative to either one of the parallel vertical planes, and a second portion connected and forming an angle with the first portion and being sloped downward along the same line as the downstream section.

4. A toy assembly as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the first and second slopes of the upstream and downstream sections are the same.

5. A toy assembly as claimed in claim 3Or4,wherein the inclination angle of the first portion of the turning section relative to the parallel planes is smaller than 90 deg.

6. A toy assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein toy pieces are simulated toy animals, and the front plate is provided with a picture.

7. A toy assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, including a non-magnetic figure piece attached to the front face of the upstanding plate, the figure piece projcting from the front face and having a camming face adjacent to the circular path of the magnetic attraction members, the camming face camming the magnetic toy piece to impart a particular motion when the toy piece moves on the front face.

8. A toy assembly as substantially described hereinbefore with reference to the accompanying drawings.