JPS6240637Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a drive device for a traveling toy in which a coil spring is directly wound around the drive axle of the traveling toy via a ratchet mechanism.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, in traveling toys that use a spring as a power source for a drive device, a mainspring spring is often used because it can store a large amount of force and obtain sufficient driving force.
However, in drive devices that use a mainspring as a power source, it is difficult to attach the mainspring, which is the power source, directly to the drive axle in order to simplify the transmission mechanism and increase the energy storage effect. Since a large number of gear trains are interposed between the axles, the device becomes larger and more complicated, and it is said that it is difficult to miniaturize the drive device and, by extension, the running toy.

Therefore, in the present invention, by linearly winding the coil spring around the drive axle via a ratchet mechanism,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drive device for a running toy that enables ultra-miniaturization of the drive device and, by extension, the running toy, and also enables reliable operation by simplifying the transmission mechanism.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the drive unit, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the drive unit, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the drive unit attached to the chassis, and Figure 4 is the main part of Figure 3. An enlarged sectional view, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of the ratchet transmission mechanism, and FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams of the overload rotation mechanism.

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 indicates a hollow case body, and a case body 2 has an engaging protrusion 2a protruding from the opening.
and a drum 3 which has a groove 3a on its side surface that engages with the engagement protrusion 2a, and which is detachably joined to the case body 2. Further, a locking piece 4 is provided protrudingly on one lower side of the case body 1, a locking hole 5 is bored on the other side of the case body 2, and the drum 3
Four engagement grooves 3b are formed at equal intervals on the inner wall of the holder. These case body 2 and drum 3 are molded from synthetic resin. Reference numeral 6 denotes a drive axle having wheels 7 fitted at both ends thereof, which passes through the center of the case body 2 and the drum 3, and is rotatably supported by the case body 1.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an internally toothed ratchet wheel made of synthetic resin and having toothed portions 8a carved into its inner periphery, which is fixed to the axle 6 inside the case body 2 and rotates integrally with the wheel 7. 9 is the ratchet wheel 8
This is a synthetic resin ratchet that forms a pair with the ratchet mechanism and is mounted on the axle 6 through a portion of the base 8b of the ratchet wheel 8 so as to be rotatable relative to the ratchet wheel 8. This ratchet 9 is provided with a pair of arcuate members wound in the circumferential direction from its base 9a, and claws 9b, 9b are respectively protruded from the tips thereof. Since the ratchet 9 is made of synthetic resin and the base piece of the claw 9b is arc-shaped, it has greater elasticity, and it is desirable that the synthetic resin material has rigidity.

10 is a substantially conical coil spring, one of which has a small diameter so as to be attached to the base 9a of the ratchet 9;
In addition, its tip 10a is locked to the side surface 9c of the base 9a, and the other end has approximately the same diameter as the inner diameter of the drum 3, and a part thereof has an engaging protrusion 10b that engages with the engaging groove 3b of the drum 3. is formed. One end of the coil spring 10 is connected to the ratchet mechanisms 8 and 9, and the other end is attached to the drum 3 so as to be rotatable when overloaded. In this way, by using the coil spring 10 as the power source of the drive device,
Since the power source can be directly wound around the drive axle 6, thereby reducing the size and simplicity of the drive device, the coil spring 10 may have a conical or cylindrical shape. However, if the coil spring 10 is formed into a conical shape, there are further advantages as follows. In other words, since the length of the coil is longer than that of a cylindrical coil spring, it is possible to store a larger amount of force, and like a mainspring spring, interference between adjacent coils can be prevented, and the number of turns of the coil can be increased. Therefore, the amount of winding of the coil spring can be increased, and the amount of stored energy can be further increased. Therefore, even if the conical coil spring 10 is miniaturized to a length of 10 mm, a small diameter portion of 4 φ, and a large diameter portion of 8 φ, insufficient driving force will not occur. Also, along with this, the ratchet wheel 8 has an outer diameter of 8.8
φ, the outer diameter of the ratchet 9 can be reduced to approximately 6.9φ. Therefore, these coil springs 10
and the case body 1 that houses the ratchet mechanism.
It can be miniaturized to approximately 11.5 mm in length, 11.0 mm in width, and 9.7 mm in height. Furthermore, since the large diameter portion of the conical coil spring 10 is the fixed side and the small diameter portion is the release side of the stored force, the stored force can be transmitted stably and efficiently.

Note that the other engaging protrusion 10b of the coil spring 10
As shown in FIG. 6A, the final winding part of the coil spring 10 is made into a square shape with the four corners protruding into square shapes, or as shown in FIG. 6B, a part of the final winding part of the coil spring 10 is made into a square shape. There are some that are protruding and formed in a semicircular shape, among which coil springs 10
In the case where the final winding part of the coil spring 10 is square and the four corners are square, the engaging protrusion 10b is connected to the coil spring 10.
can be formed simultaneously with the spiral molding of the engaging protrusion 10b.
There is an advantage that there is no need for a separate process for forming the groove 3b, and that the engagement force with the engagement groove 3b can be strengthened. And this engagement protrusion 10b
Normally, the coil spring 10 is engaged with the engagement groove 3b of the drum 3, but as will be described later, when the coil spring 10 is wound up beyond a certain level, it comes off from the engagement groove 3b, causing the coil spring 10 itself to idle, and prevents the coil spring 10 from spinning any further. coil spring 10
prevent winding up. That is, the engagement groove 3b of the drum 3 and the engagement protrusion 10b of the coil spring 10 together constitute an overload rotation mechanism.

In this way, the drive device of this embodiment constitutes a pullback type drive device in which the substantially conical coil spring 10 is directly wound around the drive axle b to form a small, case-like unit. are doing.

When assembling the drive device of this embodiment having such a configuration, for example, the latchet wheel 8 is press-fitted onto the axle 6, and the latchet 9 is assembled into the latchet wheel 8 and mounted on the axle 6. Subsequently, the coil spring 10 is wound around the axle 6 via the ratchet 9 so that one tip end 10a is locked onto the base side surface 9c of the ratchet 9. Thereafter, the case body 2 and the drum 3 are inserted from both sides of the axle 6, and the case body 2 is brought into contact with the ratchet wheel 8, and the other side of the coil spring 10 is attached to the drum 3. Both of the drums 3 are brought together by engagement between the engaging protrusions 2a and the grooves 3a, and a unitized driving device in the form of a case is assembled. Note that the other coil spring 10 may be attached to the drum 3 in advance, and the coil spring 10 may be wound at the same time as the drum 3 is loaded.
Alternatively, the ratchet 9 may be fitted onto the ratchet wheel 8 in advance and mounted on the axle 6 at the same time. After assembling the drive device, wheels 7 are fitted to both ends of the axle 6.

The drive device configured as a unit with a case-like outer shape as described above has a recess 22 formed at the rear of the chassis 20 on which the front wheel 21 is rotatably mounted.
Then, the locking piece 4 of the case body 1 is locked and fitted to the locking protrusion 23, and the locking hole 5 is firmly attached with the locking hole 5 being elastically locked by the locking hook 24.
Therefore, the driving device can be easily and freely attached to and removed from the chassis 20 by utilizing the elasticity of the locking hook 24, which is unitized into a case. The drive device is mounted in the recess 22 of the chassis 20 because the drive axle 6 is located at the center of the coil spring 10, so the mounting height of the wheel 7 is appropriate, and at the same time, the mounting is done firmly so that it will not come off easily. This is to ensure that.

In the above drive device, the case body 2 forming the case body 1 and the drum 3 are connected to the chassis 2.
It is also possible to mold the ratchet wheel 8 integrally with the drive axle 6. In this way, the manufacturing process of the traveling toy can be simplified. The case body 1 does not necessarily require the case body 2, and may only include the drum 3. In this case, the shape of the drum 3 may be thin as shown in the figure, but
It is also possible to extend the wall of the drum 3 into a cylindrical shape and provide the same function as the case body 2. Furthermore,
The ratchet 9 of the ratchet mechanism does not necessarily have to be mounted over the entire drive axle 6, but a coil spring 10 is wound in a slightly compressed state in the longitudinal direction, and the ratchet 9 is always latched by the elastic force of the coil spring 10. If it is designed to mesh with the ratchet wheel 8, its function can be fully demonstrated just by mounting it on the base 8b of the ratchet wheel 8, and the end part can be inserted between it and the ratchet wheel using a spacer or the like. The same is true even if it is worn.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the running toy is gripped and pulled backwards while pressing the rear wheels 7, the rotation of the wheels 7 is transmitted to the ratchet wheels 8 via the axle 6 as clockwise rotation in FIG. As a result, the ratchet wheel 8 winds up the coil spring 10 via the pawl 9b of the ratchet 9 that meshes with the teeth 8a of the ratchet wheel 8. Even if the wheel 7 is further pulled back and the coil spring 10 is wound up after this winding has been sufficiently performed, the overload rotation mechanism causes the coil spring 1 to
The other side of 0 spins idle and no further winding is performed. In this way, when the coil spring 10 is wound up and enough driving force is stored, when you release your hand from the traveling toy, the pressure on the rear wheel 7 of the traveling toy is released.
The coil spring 10 unwinds and releases the stored driving force to rotate the ratchet 9 and the ratchet wheel 8 counterclockwise, thereby rotating the axle 6, that is, the wheels 7, and rotating the traveling toy. advance. At this time, the release of the stored force due to the unwinding action of the coil spring 10 is instantaneously performed while the ratchet 9 rotates several times, so that a very large rotational force is instantaneously applied to the ratchet wheel 8. . Therefore, even if the ratchet 9 stops after several rotations, the ratchet wheel 8 continues to rotate counterclockwise due to its inertia while pushing the pawl 9b of the ratchet 9 downward with its elasticity.

As described above, according to the present invention, since a coil spring is used as the power source of the drive device, the coil spring can be linearly wound around the drive axle, and even if a small coil spring is used, sufficient drive can be achieved. In addition to being able to obtain a large amount of force, it is also possible to downsize the entire drive device, particularly downsize, and in turn, it is possible to downsize and downsize the traveling toy itself.
In addition, since a transmission mechanism consisting of a ratchet and a ratchet wheel having steel and elastic pawls mounted directly on the drive axle is used to connect the coil spring and the drive axle, the transmission mechanism can be simplified. This further contributes to miniaturization of the drive device, and enables reliable operation with fewer failures.

In addition, the drive device of the present invention has the transmission mechanism and coil spring mounted and wrapped around the drive axle and housed in the case body, so it can be made into a unit in the form of a case and can be easily attached to the chassis of the traveling toy. It has the effect of being extremely easy to perform.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the drive unit, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the drive unit, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the drive unit attached to the chassis, and Figure 4 is the main part of Figure 3. An enlarged sectional view, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of the ratchet transmission mechanism, and FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams of the overload rotation mechanism. 1...Case body, 2...Case body, 2a...
Engaging protrusion, 3...drum, 3a...groove, 3b...
Engagement groove, 4... Locking piece, 5... Locking hole, 6... Drive axle, 7... Wheel, 8... Ratchet wheel, 8a... Teeth, 9... Ratchet, 9b...
Claw, 10...Coil spring, 10b...Engaging protrusion,
20... Chassis, 23... Locking protrusion, 24...
Locking hook.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A drive device for a traveling toy, which uses a coil spring as a power source and is characterized by meeting the following requirements. (a) A drive axle with a ratchet wheel integrally fixed thereon is rotatably supported within the hollow case body. (b) A transmission mechanism is constructed by meshing a ratchet, which is slidably and rotatably mounted on the drive axle, with the ratchet wheel. (c) The coil spring is wound around the drive axle so that one end thereof is connected to the transmission mechanism and the other end is connected to the case body so that it can be wound up and unwound.