JP3308485B2 - kaleidoscope - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a kaleidoscope, and more particularly to a kaleidoscope capable of obtaining variously changing reflection images having a sense of depth.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Kaleidoscopes are known as toys that make use of the reflection phenomenon of a mirror. A common kaleidoscope captures the random movement of small pieces, such as a transparent color plate, housed in a partitioned space at the tip of a cylinder with a mirror surface consisting of multiple mirrors assembled in the cylinder and reflects it multiple times. The changed image is viewed through the peephole. In addition, generally, various kinds of contents that transmit or reflect light can be appropriately selected as contents contained in the kaleidoscope, but in this specification, these contents are collectively referred to as “small pieces”. And

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of the structure of a conventional general kaleidoscope 50. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure with a part cut away, in a cylindrical outer cylinder 51 constituting the external appearance of the kaleidoscope 50, three elongated three-pieces are formed into a regular triangular prism shape such that their mirror surfaces 52a face each other on the inner surface. Is accommodated. A viewing hole 53 is provided on one end surface of the outer cylinder 51 to look inside the lens barrel 52 composed of the above-described mirror. The other end of the outer cylinder 51 is provided with a light-transmitting lighting plate 54 such as frosted glass. External light can be introduced into the kaleidoscope 50 via the light collection plate 54. A transparent partition plate 55 is provided immediately inside the lighting plate 54.
And a small piece storage portion 6 in a space partitioned by the
0 is provided.

[0004] In the small piece accommodating section 60, a plurality of small pieces 61 made of colored small resin or glass that transmit or reflect light are accommodated. These are colored in various colors. These small pieces 61 are rolled by rotating the outer cylinder 51 of the kaleidoscope 50 as shown by the arrow in the figure, and tilt or change direction at the bottom of the small piece housing portion 60. The random movement of the small pieces 61 reflects the movement of the small pieces in a multiple manner on the mirror surface in the lens barrel 52, thereby obtaining a complicated and geometrically reflected image.

[0005]

By the way, in the kaleidoscope shown in FIG. 11, the small piece 61 is accommodated in a space having a small depth in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder as shown by the depth B, so that the small piece 61 Depending on the shape or the material, it may be possible to change (move) only in a plane in the space. Therefore, depending on the change of the small piece 61, only a relatively monotonous change image can be obtained. For this reason, a structure in which the space of the small piece accommodating portion 60 is made large in the depth direction of the cylinder may be considered. However, in this case, as shown in FIG. 12, the small pieces 61 are stacked on the bottom of the space, and an image of the small piece is formed only at a position shifted in the field of view, and only a multiple reflection image with many blank portions can be seen. In some cases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to obtain a symmetrically changed image having an overall spread even when a small piece having a relatively large content is accommodated. Another object of the present invention is to provide a kaleidoscope capable of forming a change image having a three-dimensional depth according to the movement of the small piece.

[0007]

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a substantially cone-shaped housing portion cover is connected to the tip of an outer cylinder that houses a lens barrel inside, and a small piece is housed inside the cover. A fin is formed on the inner surface of the accommodating portion cover and a fin is formed on the inner surface of the accommodating portion cover by rotating the outer cylinder or the accommodating portion cover. The movement in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder is provided.

It is preferable that the fin is formed so as to form a multiple spiral shape along the inner surface of the housing cover.

Preferably, the housing cover is a light-transmitting member.

Further, it is preferable that the outer cylinder and the housing cover are connected by an expandable and contractible portion so that the capacity of the housing can be expanded. At this time, it is preferable that the expandable portion has a bellows structure that can expand and contract and bend.

[0012]

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a kaleidoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the kaleidoscope according to the present invention, with a part cut away. As shown in FIG. 1, a kaleidoscope 10 of the present invention has an outer cylinder 1 in which a lens barrel 2 equivalent to a conventional structure is housed.
And a small piece storage portion 12 in a storage portion cover 13 connected to the outer cylinder 1 via a partition plate 4. The outer cylinder 1 houses a lens barrel 2 composed of three elongated flat mirrors assembled in a regular triangular prism shape such that mirror surfaces 2a face each other on the inner surface. A viewing hole 3 is provided at a center position of one end surface of the outer cylinder 1 so that a change image reflected on a mirror surface 2a in the lens barrel 2 can be seen.

At the tip of the other end of the outer cylinder 1, a housing cover 13 having a truncated cone shape with a cut end is provided with a rotary joint 14.
And is rotatably connected to the outer cylinder 1 via. The housing cover 13 is a synthetic resin molded product having high light transmittance. Inside the housing cover 13, as shown in FIG. A part 12 is formed. As shown in FIG. 2, spiral fins 16 made of flexible resin are attached to the inner surface of the small piece accommodating portion 12 in multiple rows. This spiral fin 1
As shown in FIG. 3, a frustoconical interior material made of transparent resin and having a loose spiral fold 15 formed along the inner surface of the cone as shown in FIG. 3 may be attached. When the friction between the interior material and the small piece is large, the small piece can move in the small piece accommodating portion 12 in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder even if the small piece is not pleated.

The inclination angle of the spiral of the fin 16 in the axial direction of the cylinder shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 can be set as appropriate. The height of the fins 16 is also freely set according to the diameter of the cylinder so that the small pieces (not shown) move along the fins 16 or become caught when the small pieces (not shown) are stirred in the small piece accommodating portion 12. it can.

As shown in FIG. 4, a bellows portion 17 is integrally connected to a substantially frustoconical housing portion cover 13, and the bellows portion 17 is connected to accommodate a large number of small pieces 20 in an enlarged space. You can also. In this case, the size, shape, and the like of the small pieces 20 can be selected in more variety according to the accommodation space. At this time, since the bellows portion 17 can be freely bent, the tip of the tube is bent as shown by the arrow in the figure, or the small piece 20 is hooked on the spiral fin 16 to be balanced at an appropriate position in the accommodation space. The posture and the depth position of the small piece 20 can be freely changed, and various changes can be given to the obtained reflection image.

In particular, the effect of the spiral fins 16 is that the small pieces 2 inserted into the small piece accommodating portion 12 when the outer cylinder 1 is agitated.
In addition to preventing the 0 (content) from slipping and accumulating on the bottom of the cylinder, it can be expected that the small pieces are moved toward the center of the visual field, and that agitation accompanied by various movements is caused.

FIG. 5 shows a modified example in which the shape of the housing portion cover 13 is made into a polygonal pyramid shape by bending a metal plate such as aluminum, and light is collected from the side ring portion 18 and the tip portion 19. . In this case, since the obtained external light is incident on the small piece accommodating portion 12 in a ring shape, the degree of reflection of the small piece 20 varies depending on the direction thereof, and thus various patterns of changed images can be obtained. In addition,
The same effect can be obtained even if the housing cover 13 is formed in a similar shape using a resin molded product. Needless to say, the shape of the housing cover may be any shape such as a cone or a pyramid, as long as the shape of the housing is a cone with a sharp point.

FIG. 6 shows the housing portion cover 13 with the cylinder 1B.
This shows a modified example in which the outer cylinder 1 is formed into an integral cylindrical shape so as to be covered with a circle. In this case as well, light can be taken from the front or from the ring portion 18 on the side.

As described above, the shape of the housing portion cover is made to be a pyramid or a cone having a sharp tip, so that the volume of the small piece housing portion 12 is increased, and the spiral fins 16 are provided inside, so that the small pieces 20 are moved along the fins 16. Can be easily moved in the direction of the center of the visual field.
In the case of a plane mirror, a symmetric reflection image having a sense of depth can be easily formed. That is, in the deep accommodation space, the degree of freedom of movement of the small piece itself due to agitation can be positively increased, and various reflection images with a large head (a large image change amount) can be obtained.

Since the entire housing cover 13 can receive light, the small-piece housing 12 may be made of a resin piece or a glass piece that transmits light, or a ceramic piece such as colored feathers or colored tiles. It is also preferable to accommodate various small pieces that do not transmit light but show a beautiful color when reflected, such as petals and small resin toys. In addition, by mixing various weights of the small pieces, the speed of agitation and movement in the depth direction of the small pieces when the outer cylinder 1 is rotated varies, and the change image obtained at that time also changes relatively randomly. Can be expected, and the change of the image can be prevented from becoming monotonous. Of the small pieces to be accommodated, light lint is light,
It may be difficult to move in the depth direction when agitated. In such a case, for example, a yarn may be attached to a relatively movable small piece such as a glass ball to give movement to the yarn using the glass ball as a core.
Alternatively, the small piece accommodating portion 12 may be a watertight container, and a colored liquid may be sealed therein, and a moving state of the liquid may be captured as a reflection image. For example, by coloring liquids such as oils having different specific gravities to each color, it is also possible to obtain changes in the liquids of a plurality of colors at different speeds.

Also, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a telescopic part 5 is provided in a part of the outer cylinder 1 and the volume of the small piece accommodating part 12 is changed during the stirring, so that the small piece 20 can be moved in the depth direction. The change in the movement of the vehicle can be increased. FIG.
1 shows a telescopic part 5 having a slide structure, which can realize a depth B1 further extended from a depth B0 in FIG. In addition, as described above, when the elastic part 5 has a bellows structure as shown in FIG. 8, the position of the small pieces entering the field of view can be variously changed by bending the tip part in an appropriate direction as shown by the arrow. It can be changed.

Next, the arrangement of the mirrors in the outer cylinder 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 9 (a), a continuous multiple reflection image in which the entire field of view is divided by an equilateral triangle can be obtained with the orientation of the regular triangular mirror surface by the popular three mirrors. It is also possible to provide one side face that is not closed in the three mirrors.

Further, in the case of a two-mirror structure having an isosceles triangular shape in which the angle between two mirror surfaces is reduced as shown in FIG. 9C, a polygonal shape as shown in each of FIGS. A multiple reflection image symmetrical with respect to the center of the visual field can be obtained, but in this case, a distinctive three-dimensional effect can be felt according to the depth position of the small piece in the small piece accommodating portion.

For example, when forming a symmetrical image as shown in FIG. 10 (a), the small piece is moved to the center of the visual field by rotating the outer cylinder and sliding the small piece along the spiral fin to the tip of the cylinder. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), the reflected image changes so as to become smaller as it goes away. Further, since a plurality of small pieces are actually arranged in the depth direction, the reflection image reflected in the field of view can be seen with a sense of perspective reflecting the position of each small piece. The three-dimensional effect in the depth direction of the reflection image is further amplified.

The number of plane mirrors used for the lens barrel is two,
It is not limited to three. Furthermore, by connecting a plurality of plane mirrors to form a bent structure, various reflection images can be obtained even in the depth direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of a kaleidoscope according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view showing details of a small piece accommodating portion of the kaleidoscope shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing details of a modification of the small piece accommodating portion of the kaleidoscope.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged sectional view showing details of another modification of the small piece accommodating portion of the kaleidoscope.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the kaleidoscope of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the kaleidoscope of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a telescopic portion (slide structure) of a kaleidoscope is extended.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state in which a telescopic portion (bellows structure) of a kaleidoscope is extended.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a combination of kaleidoscope mirrors.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing an example of a reflected image having a sense of depth obtained by the kaleidoscope of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of a conventional kaleidoscope with a part thereof cut away.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view schematically showing a state in which a small piece is at the bottom of a cylinder in a conventional kaleidoscope.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 outer cylinder 2 lens barrel 4 partition plate 5 telescopic part 10 kaleidoscope 12 small piece storage part 13 storage part cover 16 spiral fin 17 bellows part 20 small piece

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] A substantially cone-shaped accommodating cover is connected to a tip of an outer cylinder accommodating a lens barrel therein to form a substantially conical accommodating portion for accommodating small pieces therein, and said accommodating cover is provided. By forming a fin on the inner surface and rotating the outer cylinder or the housing cover, a small piece in the housing is
A kaleidoscope, wherein a movement in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder is provided by the fins in addition to the rolling. 2. The kaleidoscope according to claim 1, wherein said fins are formed in a multi-layered spiral shape along an inner surface of said housing cover. 3. The kaleidoscope according to claim 1, wherein the housing cover is made of a light transmitting member. 4. The kaleidoscope according to claim 1, wherein the outer cylinder and the housing cover are connected to each other by an expandable and contractible portion so that the capacity of the housing can be increased. 5. The kaleidoscope according to claim 4, wherein said expandable portion has a bellows structure capable of expanding and contracting.