GB2264066A

GB2264066A - Toy gun.

Info

Publication number: GB2264066A
Application number: GB9202631A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Shih-Che Hu
Original assignee: Yih Kai Enterprise Co Ltd
Current assignee: Yih Kai Enterprise Co Ltd
Priority date: 1992-02-07
Filing date: 1992-02-07
Publication date: 1993-08-18
Anticipated expiration: 2012-02-07
Also published as: GB9202631D0; GB2264066B

Abstract

A toy gun comprises a trigger 14 adapted to close an electrical circuit upon operation by a user, means (33) for locating a bullet 40 or like projectile in a barrel, electric drive means 20 for moving a firing member (51, Figure 5) away from said barrel against bias means (54) upon closure of said circuit until a position is reached where said drive means is disengaged from said firing member whereupon said bias means urges said firing member toward said barrel in a firing stroke in which said firing member generates an air compression to expel said bullet or like projectile from said barrel. The electric drive means suitably comprises a half-gear 23 driven from an electric motor, wherein the firing-member is provided with a rack (52) for engaging the half-gear. The bullet locating means may take the form of a barrel extension (33) and connecting rod (30) which upon operation of the drive means moves rearwardly away from the barrel, and upon disengagement of the drive means, is urged forwardly, to push the bullet to the firing position. The drive means may be switched from a single firing condition to a continuous firing condition. <IMAGE>

Description

TOY GUN This invention relates to a toy gun.

A conventional toy gun utilises gas or a spring as a power source for firing a bullet. However, a toy gun using gas has the drawback that gas is released into the open air to cause pollution, and also that it can give rise to an accident and hurt a child if the gas is filled improperly. A toy gun using a spring has the disadvantage of a short shooting distance and is consequently less interesting for a child to play with.

According to the present invention there is provided a toy gun comprising, a trigger adapted to close an electrical circuit upon operation by a user, means for locating a bullet or like projectile in a barrel, electric drive means for moving a firing member away from said barrel against bias means upon closure of said circuit until a position is reached where said drive means is disengaged from said firing member whereupon said bias means urges said firing member toward said barrel in a firing stroke in which said firing member generates an air compression to expel said bullet or like projectile from said barrel.

By means of this arrangement there may be provided a toy gun having a long shooting distance that uses electricity instead of gas as its power source so as to avoid problems caused by gas.

In one embodiment of the invention the electric drive means comprises a half-gear driven from an electric motor, and the firing member is provided with a rack for engaging the half-gear.

Preferably the bullet locating means comprises a cylindrical barrel extension which upon operation of the drive means is moved rearwardly away from the barrel against a spring bias, and which upon disengagement of the drive means is urged forwardly by the spring bias into engagement with the barrel to form an extension thereof. It is further preferred that the barrel extension comprises an extension piece having a connecting rod secured thereto, the connecting rod being formed with a hook portion for engaging one end of the spring bias, and with cam means which engages a pin upon operation of the drive means to urge the barrel extension against the spring bias.

Preferably a switch is provided to select between a single firing condition and a continuous firing condition.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a toy gun of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a view of the toy gun of Figure 1 partly broken away to illustrate the firing mechanism; Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the loading of bullets; Figure 4 is another view similar to Figure 3 further illustrating the loading of bullets; Figure 5 is a detail view of a part of the firing mechanism; Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of A-A line in Figure 5; and Figure 7 is a view of a detent mechanism in a toy gun having a firing mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A toy gun with a firing control mechanism of an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, comprises an operating system 1, a transmission system 2, a bullet pushing system 3, and a firing system 5 as its main components.

The operating system 1 has two conductors 10, 11 and the conductor 11 is to be fixed with and moved forward together by a sliding member 12 connected with one end of a connecting rod 13 having the other end connected with the upper end of a trigger 14 so that when the trigger 14 is pulled back by a finger, the sliding member 12 can be pushed forward by the connecting rod 13, moving the conductor 11 forward to touch the other conductor 10 to turn on an electric power source. Then a motor 20 in the transmission system 2 is powered and begins to rotate. If the trigger is released, the conductor 11 together with the sliding member 12 can be pulled back to the original position, leaving the other conductor 10 and cutting off power.

The transmission system 2 includes a motor 20 and a battery unit 200 supplying electric power to the motor 20, and a gear group consisting of a small bevel gear 201, a large bevel gear 21 to engage with said gear 201, a first small gear 210 formed on the large bevel gear 21 as a unit, a large gear 22 to engage with the first small gear 210, a second small gear 220 formed under the large gear 22 as a unit to engage a gear 230 formed on a half gear 23 having teeth 231 on a half circumference, said half gear engaging with a rack provided on the lower surface of a tubular piston in the firing system so that the toothed half circumference can move back the piston 51 and the smooth half circumference can allow the piston 51 to be moved forward by a spring 54.In order to prevent the motor 20 from rotating in counter direction owing to the battery unit being incorrectly inserted with reverse polarity, a detent 24 shown in Figure 7 is especially provided in the large bevel gear 21, supported and controlled by a twisting spring 240 so that said spring 240 can press down the detent 24. In addition, the first small gear 210 is provided with two stop surfaces 211, 212 to stop the first small gear 210 from rotating in counter direction so that the motor 20 can also be stopped and the power can be automatically cut off.

A selecting switch 25 is provided to select the firing of one bullet at a time or one by one continuously at one time.

The bullet pushing system 3 includes a connecting rod 30 having an actuating member 31 of an irregular shape extending down from the rear portion and a side surface 310 on the actuating member 31. The actuating member 31 can be moved, as shown in Figure 5, by a sidewise post 233 provided on a side surface of the half gear 23 so that the connecting rod 30 can be pushed back by the post 233 when the half gear 23 rotates. The connecting rod 30 also has a hook 300 at the front portion to hook one end of a spring 32 having the other end fixed on a fixing post 320 so that the connecting rod 30 can be pulled back to its original position (waiting) by the spring 32.The right-hand end (as viewed in Figure 5) of the connecting rod 30 is bent upright through 90 and is of forked shape to engage an annular groove 330 of an air valve 33 so that the rod 30 can move back and forth the air valve 33 provided around a tube 500 provided at the front of the cylinder 50.

When the connecting rod 30 is pulled back to a second position (firing) as shown in Figure 3, the bullet 40 in a bullet case 4 is pushed in bullet passage 41. When the rod 30 is pushed forward to its original (the first) position, the air valve 33 can be pushed forward to push the bullet to the front of the bullet passage 41 to become ready to be shot out. So the air valve 33 functions as an extension of the tube 500 to keep the air pressure in the barrel.

The firing system 5 shown in Figures 5, 6 includes a cylinder 50 and a tubular piston 51 provided to extend in a hollow passage 501 in the cylinder 50. The cylinder 50 has two sliding grooves 503 in each inner wall side surface 502 as shown in Figure 6 for sliding rails 511 on the outer surface 510 of the piston to fit and slide therein. The piston 51 has a rack 52 on the outer lower surface 510 to engage with the half gear 23 for mutual movement.

The number of the teeth of the rack 52 is the same as that of the teeth 231 of the half gear 23 so that the piston 51 can be pushed back by the rack 52 when the half gear 23 rotates. A rubber gasket 53 is provided at the front end of the piston 51 to rest on the inner surface 502 of the cylinder 50 to push the air in the cylinder 50.

A powerful spring 54 is provided to extend in the hollow cavity 512 of the piston 51, having one end fixed at the front of the piston 51 and the other end fixed on a position rod 540, which is caught in a hole 542 of a position plate 541 so that the movement of the piston 51 and the elasticity and movement of the spring 54 can be kept constant, so as to heighten shooting accuracy , and to prevent biasing of the piston 51.

Claims

1. A toy gun comprising, a trigger adapted to close an electrical circuit upon operation by a user, means for locating a bullet or like projectile in a barrel, electric drive means for moving a firing member away from said barrel against bias means upon closure of said circuit until a position is reached where said drive means is disengaged from said firing member whereupon said bias means urges said firing member toward said barrel in a firing stroke in which said firing member generates an air compression to expel said bullet or like projectile from said barrel.

2. A toy gun as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electric drive means comprises a half-gear driven from an electric motor, and wherein said firing member is provided with a rack for engaging said half-gear.

3. A toy gun as claimed in claim 2 wherein said half gear and said rack have an equal number of teeth.

4. A toy gun as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said bullet locating means comprises a cylindrical barrel extension which upon operation of said drive means is moved rearwardly away from said barrel against a spring bias, and which upon disengagement of said drive means is urged forwardly by said spring bias into engagement with the barrel to form an extension thereof.

5. A toy gun as claimed in claim 4 wherein said barrel extension comprises an extension piece having a connecting rod secured thereto, said connecting rod being formed with a hook portion for engaging one end of said spring bias, and with cam means which engages a pin upon operation of said drive means to urge the barrel extension against said spring bias.

6. A toy gun as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said firing member comprises a hollow piston within which is received a spring forming said bias means.

7. A toy gun as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said electric drive means comprises an electric motor and means for preventing counter-rotation thereof.

8. A toy gun as claimed in claim 7 wherein said counter-rotation prevention means comprises a gear having a detent for engaging a stop surface.

9. A toy gun as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said drive means comprises switch means for switching between a single firing condition and a continuous firing condition.

10. A toy gun substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. A toy gun with a shooting control structure comprising: an operating system having two electric conductors, a sliding member being fixed with one of the conductors and having a connecting rod fixed with the top end of a trigger, and a spring fixed with the sliding member, said trigger having a first position for waiting and a second position for shooting a bullet out by making the sliding member move to let the two conductors contact with each other, said sliding member being in the first position for waiting and in the second position for shooting as the trigger is, said trigger being able to be pulled by finger from the first position to the second position, said spring being able to pull the sliding member back from the second position to the first (original) position if the trigger is released;; a transmission system having a motor, a battery unit to supply electric power to the motor to rotate a gear unit including a small bevel gear fixed on the shaft of the motor, a large bevel gear to engage with the small bevel gear, a first small gear formed on the large bevel gear as one unit to engage with a large gear, a second small gear formed under the large gear as one unit, a gear to engage with the second small gear, and a half gear formed under the gear to engage with a rack provided on the lower surface of a piston in a shooting system for mutual movement, said half gear having gear teeth on a half circumference, a smooth surface on the other half circumference and a sidewise post, said half gear being indirectly rotated by the motor to move the piston;; a bullet pushing system including a connecting rod provided below along a cylinder in a shooting system, said connecting rod having (1) an actuating member extending down from the front portion to be pushed by the sidewise post of the half gear so that the connecting rod can be moved back from the original (first) position to a second position (for shooting), (2) a spring to pull back the connecting rod to its original position (the first position), and (3) a bentupright front portion having a forked end to fit in an annular groove in an air valve fixed around a tube provided at the front of the cylinder so that the air valve can be moved forward to the second position from the first position as the connecting rod, and a bullet can be pushed in a shooting passage in the tube at the front of the cylinder;; a shooting system including (1) a cylinder having two sliding lengthwise grooves in its inner wall, (2) a tubular piston extending in the cylinder and having two sliding rails on the outer surface to fit in the sliding grooves in the cylinder so as to slide therein and a rubber gasket at the front end for resting on the inner wall of the cylinder so as to compress the air in the cylinder, said piston also having a rack extending down from the lower surface to engage with the half gear in the transmission system so that said piston may be moved by the half gear from the first position (waiting) to the second position (shooting), and (3) a powerful coiled spring provided in the inner cavity of the piston with one end fixed at the front of the piston and with the other end fixed on a position rod behind the piston to push back the piston from the second position to the first position after a bullet has been shot out.

12. The toy gun with a shooting control structure as claimed in claim 11, wherein said large bevel gear is provided with a detent to coordinate with the two stop surfaces in the second small gear to prevent counter rotation of the motor.

13. The toy gun with a shooting control structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of the teeth in the half gear in the transmission system is the same as that of the teeth in the rack of the piston in the shooting system.