JP2672400B2 - Assembly toy set connection mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a coupling mechanism including a rod and a coupling head, which includes various assembly elements with another type of coupling means, such as a bush and a ball head. The present invention relates to a connecting mechanism configured to be used in an assembled toy set.

Due to technological development in the field of assembling toys to enable more complex structures to be assembled, partly to strengthen stationary structures and partly to move structural parts to each other. There is a need for a simple assembly element suitable for transmitting pressure and tension. Known components of assembled toy sets have also been statically stiffened, and such mutual movement has been accomplished by a combination of shafts and gears, often resulting in smaller structures than desired.

In the world of mechanics, force transmission is often used, for example, in bicycle gear and brake cables that allow twisted steel wires to move within a flexible enclosure. Like the Bowden cable,
It is implemented with extremely thin, flexible cables. Movement of the inner cable relative to the envelope is used to control the position of the moving parts. Bicycle wheel spokes
This is an example of using such a thin cable-shaped object for mechanical stability.

However, this type of construction generally had to take into account the forces actually encountered when assembling the cable and when configuring the means used to secure the cable to the structure, often It is difficult to install and requires the experience of a skilled person, so it is not suitable for use in an assembly toy set.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to transmit a force between each element of the structure assembled in the assembly toy set, for example, to transmit pressure, tension, and rotation between each component,
Or, for example, to provide a coupling mechanism that can be adopted in an existing assembled toy set in order to stabilize a static structure assembled with the assembled toy set, and such a coupling mechanism is easy to install. Of course, it must be possible to combine with the various building elements of the building toy set.

The object is to equip the rod with at least one terminal part, which is adapted to be housed between two elastic walls of the connecting head and adapted to be detachably engageable with the connecting head. And providing the connecting head with the second connecting means for connecting other parts belonging to the assembled toy set. As a result, a fitting / disengaging action is provided between the rod-shaped body and the connecting head, so that these two parts can be easily engaged with and disengaged from each other.

The second connecting means of the connecting head includes, for example, a cylindrical eye hole capable of accommodating a cylindrical bush, or two stop means which are axially separated so as to rotatably accommodate the ball head. It may have a cylindrical eye hole provided. In the preferred embodiment, the rod is circular in cross section and comprises a constriction distant from the end that houses the end piece. At least one of the elastic walls of the connecting head has a collar transverse to the axial direction of the rod. When interconnecting the two parts of the coupling mechanism, this collar prevents axial movement of the rod with respect to the coupling head. In order to strengthen the connecting head, two elastic walls are usually joined by a part of the axially projecting material of the rod. The rod-shaped body can be engaged with the material portion by connecting to the connecting head.

A tubular liner or envelope with an inner diameter that matches the diameter of the rod can also be configured to penetrate the rod. This is feasible if the rod is provided with end pieces whose diameter is less than or equal to the diameter of the rod. Thus, if the movement of the cable with respect to the end of the liner is used to move the parts of the structure to be assembled in the assembly toy set, a rod can also be used as a type of Bowden cable. Conveniently, the cable liner can be attached to a bushing whose outer diameter matches the other components included in the assembly toy set, allowing the cable wiring to be secured to existing assembly elements. It is the diameter of the cable liner that limits the types of components through which the cable can pass, as the connecting head can be easily removed from the rod. It is desirable to have end pieces on both ends of the rod so that the connecting heads can be attached to both ends. However, in some cases it may be advantageous for one end of the rod to be an integral part of the components of the assembled toy set. Thus, one end of the rod may be directly connected to the piston rod of the pressure actuated cylinder.

However, the rod is, for example, capable of transmitting torsion or rotation between the two components by a coupling mechanism,
It is also possible to provide a terminal part whose cross section has four sides.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 1 is a preferred embodiment of a cable end with a terminal piece according to the invention.

 FIG. 2 is an example of a connecting head according to the present invention.

 FIG. 3 is a second embodiment of the connecting head according to the present invention.

 FIG. 4 is a side view of the connection head of FIG.

 FIG. 5 is an end view of the connecting head of FIGS. 3 and 4.

 FIG. 6 is an application example of the coupling mechanism according to the present invention.

 FIG. 7 is a second application example of the connection mechanism according to the present invention.

 FIG. 8 is a third application example of the connection mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a fourth example of the coupling mechanism according to the present invention.

 FIG. 10 is an alternative embodiment of a rod according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a preferred embodiment of a rod 10 of a connecting mechanism according to the present invention. The rod-shaped body 10 is provided with a terminal component including a narrowed portion 15 that forms an integral structure portion of the rod-shaped body 10. Stenosis
The 15 is connected to the end 12 and the body of the rod 10 by two conical parts 13 and 14, respectively. In the preferred embodiment, the rod 10 has a maximum diameter that matches the diameter of the body.

FIG. 2 shows a connecting head 20 with two elastic walls 27 adapted to be able to detachably house and hold the terminal parts of the rod 10. The connecting head 20 is an oval-shaped object having a cylindrical through hole 21 at one end for rotatably housing and holding a cylindrical bush of another assembly element included in the assembly toy set. Between the two elastic walls 27, a circular groove 23 for accommodating the terminal component of the rod-shaped body 10 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the connecting head 20. A space is formed between the elastic walls 27 of the connecting head 20 and is divided into an inner part 24 and an outer part 22, but is hollow in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the connecting head 20.
A collar 28 extends between 22 and 24. In order to obtain the best possible product by reducing the wall thickness, the connecting head can be formed by forming the recess 25 at a predetermined position.
20 is typically manufactured by injection molding a plastic material.

FIG. 3 substantially corresponds to that shown in FIG. 2, but a cylindrical through eye 21 is configured to rotatably accommodate the ball head;
A coupling head, characterized in that it comprises, for example, two spaced rings or, in this case, two axially spaced stop means 36 of such two ring parts. Parts are shown. The two elastic walls 37 are separated by a collar 38, an outer cavity 32 and an inner cavity 34.
To form The rod 10 to be moved laterally has an elastic flap 37.
It is housed in a substantially circular groove 33 that forms the rear surface of the cavities 32 and 34 formed by. Also in this embodiment, due to the wall thickness, a recess 35 is provided to reduce the thickness.

4 and 5 are a side view and an end view of the connecting head 30 of FIG. 3, respectively. It can be seen from FIG. 4 that the interior 34 of the cavity formed by the elastic wall 37 has the shape of the end 12 on the rod 10. The width of the cavity 34, ie the spacing between the two elastic walls 37 of this part, is constant over the entire depth of the cavity.
In this way, the end 12 of the rod 10 does not encounter any resistance until it reaches the rear surface of the interior 34 of the cavity. From FIG. 5,
It can be seen that when the rod-shaped body 10 is attached, the width of the elastic wall 37 of the connecting head 30 is expanded and the outer cavity 32 becomes a funnel shape. Once the rod-shaped body 10 is attached to the cylindrical groove 33, the rod-shaped body cannot be removed without receiving a slight lateral force. The collar 38, which divides the interior 34 and the exterior 32 of the cavity, is formed with an inclined wall corresponding to the conical part 13 of the bar, so that the bar
When the axial tension of 10 exceeds a predetermined value, the collar 38 is dented with respect to the elastic wall 37, so that the rod 10 is not damaged even in the case of overload.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the connecting head 20 for accommodating the bush is oval and the connecting head 30 for holding the ball head is U-shaped. by this,
The user can easily distinguish the two types of connecting heads 20 and 30.

FIG. 6 is an application example of the connection mechanism according to the present invention, in which the connection equalizing part 30 is attached to one end of the flexible cable 10. The other end of the cable 10 is fixed to a piston 61 of a pressure tension cylinder 60, and the cable 10 is connected to the cylinder 60.
Through the opening of the end plate 62. Cylinder 60 is pump 63
Actuated by The two isomorphic elements 40 and 42 are fixed together with the pressure actuated cylinder 60 to the structure of the assembled toy set. Each of these two assembly elements 40, 42 has a bush 41
And a circular opening for accommodating 43. These two bushings 41, 43 respectively hold the ends of the tubular envelope 50 which hit the two composition elements 40, 42. The envelope 50 is preferably flexible and is formed with an inner diameter that matches the outer diameter of the rod or cable 10. The cable 10 can be easily separated from the connecting head 30, so that it is not difficult to pass the tubular envelope. After mounting the envelope 50 on the assembly elements 40 and 42 by means of the bushes 41 and 43, the cable 10 is passed through the envelope. The movement of the piston 61 of the pressure-actuated cylinder is thus transmitted via the cable 10, so that the connecting head makes the same movement with respect to the assembly element 40. This movement can also be used for other parts of the structure (not shown).

FIG. 7 is an application example of such a cable structure.
The structure shown can be used, for example, to adjust the tilt of the rotor blades of a toy helicopter. The power supply and control device 104 controls the electric power supplied to the electric motor 100. The electric motor 100 comprises a drive shaft 102 that is coupled to the helicopter rotor blade shaft through a pipe joint 105. The shaft is moved through a flat assembly element 120 with holes to accommodate the shaft and bushing. The shaft 102 is held vertically on the flat assembly element 120 by locating rings 122 attached to opposite sides of the flat assembly element 120. The shaft 110 is designated as a cardboard ball (not shown), which engages with a mounting pin on the inner cylindrical surface of the cruciform element 130, so that its rotation is the axis.
Performed by 110. The cruciform element 130 comprises coupling studs 132 for mounting the helicopter vanes,
It has four arms that project radially. Guide ring
Since 140 is rotatably journaled about the tubular portion of cruciform element 130, guide ring 140 is used to adjust the inclination of element 130 with respect to the horizontal. The guide ring 140 comprises four radially projecting arms with a ball head 145. Second type (30) coupling head 15
The 0 is coupled to any one of these ball heads 145.

As previously mentioned, this coupling head 150 is connected to the flexible cable 160 and extends through the bushing 180 through the flat assembly element 120 and the additional element 121, thereby making the bushing flexible. An envelope 170 can be retained, the other end of which is fixed to the assembly element 185 by a bushing 181. The other end of the cable 160 is attached via a bushing 190 to a connecting head 155 of the first type (20) which is attached to a lever or swivel arm 192 which swivels about a stationary swivel axis 195. The shaft 195, the assembly element 185, the assembly elements 120, 121 and the electric motor 100 are fixed to stationary structural parts which are omitted for simplicity. The swivel arm 192 is swiveled about an axis 195 and the cable 160 is moved within the envelope 170, resulting in a swivel about the axis 195 being a linear movement of the connecting head 155, thereby causing a cross-shaped element. The tilt of 130 changes. Combining one or more ball heads 145 of the guide ring 140 with the indoor unit allows the flared wings to be adjusted by a cruciform element. Alternatively, any one ball head could be fixed to the flat assembly element 120 so that the element 130 could only be tilted about its axis.

FIG. 8 uses a coupling mechanism according to the present invention to strengthen a stationary structure, illustrated by a helicopter tail assembled with the elements of an assembly toy set.
The tail consists of an elongated composition element with a through opening for accommodating the shaft. The structure is five beams 210, 220, 23, which are connected to each other by a shaft and a bush to form a generally trapezoidal body forming the tail of a helicopter.
It consists of 0, 240 and 250. Since the individual beams are rotatably coupled to each other, the tail is not itself stable, and thus the two reinforcing elements 260 and 270 are coupled between the two substantially parallel beams 210 and 240. . These stiffening elements 260 and 270 consist of a cable 10 provided at each end with a connecting head 20 which is fixed to each beam 210, 240 by a bushing or shaft extending through the beam opening. .

FIG. 9 shows a method for adjusting the shape of another semi-stationary structure.
Figure 7 shows schematically a method of using the cable structure of the tie of Figure 6. The structure consists of four beams 30 rotatably fixed to each other by means of axes 380, 381, 382, 383.
It is formed by 0, 301, 302 and 303. Thus, the beams 301-303 form a trapezoid, which has two beams 300 and 303 forming part of a parallelogram.
It can be changed by adjusting the angle formed by. The Bowden cable has an enclosure 350 attached to the beam 300,
An inner cable 310 that is attached to the beam 303 through a connecting head 320 by a bush. Thus, by moving the inner cable 310 of the envelope 350, the angle formed by the beam 300 and the beam 303 can be adjusted.

Figure 10 shows that the end piece has an end 12a with a square cross section.
7 is an alternative embodiment of a rod-shaped body formed in FIG. The bar 10 is identical to the bar shown in FIG. 1 except that the terminal piece has a flat surface, so that if the connecting head is formed of a corresponding complementary plane, it can transmit a rotational movement or a twist.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-60-181456 (JP, A) Actual opening Sho-52-129395 (JP, U) Actual opening Sho-58-133397 (JP, U) Actual opening 44- 28527 (JP, Y1) JP 57-1246 (JP, B2) JP 50-28856 (JP, B2)

Claims (16)

(57) [Claims] 1. A connection made up of a rod (10) and a connection head (20; 30) adapted to be used in an assembly toy set including various assembly elements with another type of connection means. A mechanism, wherein the rod-shaped body (10) is detachably engaged and held so as to be housed between the two elastic walls (27; 37) of the coupling head (20, 30). Second connecting means (12; 15) for connecting with other parts belonging to the assembled toy set, the connecting head (20; 30) having at least one terminal part (12-15). 21; 31)
(A) The two elastic walls (27; 3) so that the rod-shaped body (10) can be laterally inserted between the elastic walls (27; 37).
7) is disposed, and (b) a protruding collar (28; 3) that traverses the axial direction of the rod-shaped body when the rod-shaped body is mounted in the connecting head.
8) is provided on at least one of the two elastic walls of the connecting head, and (c) cooperates with the collar (28; 38) to prevent axial movement of the rod with respect to the connecting head. Stenosis (1
A connecting mechanism characterized in that 5) is provided on an end part of the rod-shaped body so as to be separated from an end (12) of the rod-shaped body. 2. The axial cross section of the end (12) of the rod-shaped body is
The coupling mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that it is larger than the cross section of the narrowed portion (15) but equal to or smaller than the cross section of the rod-shaped body (10). 3. A laterally open groove (23; 33) is provided between two elastic walls (27; 37), said groove extending in the longitudinal direction of the connecting head, and a collar having a pair of protrusions. (28; 38),
3. Coupling mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that one of the projections projects from each one of the two elastic walls (27; 37). 4. A protrusion (28; 38) extends across the length of the groove (23; 33) to divide the groove into an inner portion (24; 34) and an outer portion (22; 32). Claim 3 characterized in that
The connection mechanism according to item. 5. The connecting mechanism according to claim 4, characterized in that the outer side portion (32) of the groove is provided with an inlet which is narrower than the cross section of the rod-shaped terminal component and which is opened in the lateral direction. . 6. A first, a second, a third, and a third aspect of the present invention, characterized in that a circular cross section having the same diameter is provided on both sides of the narrowed portion (15) at the outer end of the rod-shaped body (10). The connection mechanism according to item 4 or 5. 7. A constriction (15) cooperating with a protrusion is formed by two conical parts (13, 14) at the end (12) of a rod (10).
7. The connection mechanism according to claim 6, wherein the connection mechanism is connected to the main body. 8. The connecting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the second connecting means of the connecting head (20) is composed of a cylindrical eye hole (21). 9. The connecting head is provided with two axially separated stop means (36) in the eye hole (31) so that when the ball head is attached to the eye hole, 9. The connection mechanism according to claim 8, wherein the connection mechanism is rotatably held by the stop means (36). 10. The connecting mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the rod-shaped body has a circular cross section. 11. The two elastic walls (27; 37) of the connecting head are connected by a part of the material extending in the axial direction of the rod. The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth coupling mechanism. 12. A rod-shaped body is configured to be housed in a tubular envelope (50) having an inner diameter corresponding to the diameter of the rod-shaped body (10) and the diameters of its end parts (12 to 15). The first, second, third, fourth, fifth,
The connecting mechanism according to the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth or tenth item. 13. The rod-shaped body (10) is integrated with other components (60 to 62) incorporated in the assembly toy set at the opposite ends apart from the terminal parts (12 to 15). The range 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th coupling mechanism. 14. A rod-shaped body (10) has terminal parts (10 to 1) at both ends.
5) Claims characterized by having the first, second,
3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 10th,
The connection mechanism according to item 11 or 12. 15. A rod-shaped terminal part (12 to 15) has a plurality of flat surfaces (12a) extending in the axial direction of the rod, and between the elastic walls (27; 37) of the connecting head. Claim 1, characterized in that it is adapted to engage corresponding complementary surfaces.
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 9th,
The connection mechanism according to 10, 11, 12, or 13. 16. A structure comprising a rod-shaped body (10) and a connecting head (20; 30), wherein the rod-shaped body detachably engages with the connecting head to form a composite structure. Connection head (20,
30) is a connecting mechanism for an assembled toy set, which has a second connecting means (21; 31) for connecting with other parts belonging to the assembled toy set, wherein the connecting head (20; 30) is the rod-shaped body. An expandable cavity (22, 24; 32, 34) for accommodating (10) and holding a rod at its end, said cavity comprising a pair of spaced side walls (27; 37) with an inner end wall. ) And the side walls form an axis extending between the side walls, and an integral protruding locking means (28; 38) extending inwardly from at least one of the side walls (27; 37). ) Is provided, the locking means is spaced from the inner end wall and cooperates with the inner end wall to form an inner locking chamber (24; 34), the side wall (27; 37) being A circular groove (23; 33) extending from the means (28; 38) toward the open end of the cavity (22,24; 32,34) is formed therein, the groove (23; 33) being the shaft. Is coaxial with The groove (23; 33)
Cooperates with the side wall (27; 37) to form an outer locking chamber (22; 32), wherein at least one end piece of the rod (10) is housed in a substantially cylindrical envelope. The terminal part (1) has a round shape and forms the axis of the rod-shaped body (10) and can be housed laterally in the inner locking chamber (24; 34).
2) at the end of the end, and is locked in the lock chamber against the axial movement of the rod-shaped body (10), and the terminal part is further provided in the immediate vicinity of the terminal part (12). In addition, the rod-shaped body (10) has an annular groove (15) forming a part of the terminal portion (12) and is capable of expanding a cavity (22, 24; 32, 3).
4) The annular groove (15) has a structure such that it is housed in the protruding locking means (28; 38) when it is inserted into the inside in the lateral direction, and the groove (23; 33) has the rod shape. The side wall (27; 37) is arranged in such a shape that it can be tightly received in the cylindrical envelope portion of the body (10), and the side wall (27; 37) allows the rod-shaped body to form the cavity (22, 23;
32, 34) A coupling mechanism characterized by having an elastic flexure so that it can be inserted laterally.