JPS63220896A - Educational toy - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an educational toy suitable for use in music education for young children.

(Prior art) Conventionally, as this type of educational toy, for example,
- As shown in Publication No. 11997 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-28196, a game with various game functions such as one-ball hitting game J, "Trump's Nervous Breakdown", etc. in a small electronic key board instrument. There are known devices in which a device is incorporated and a keyboard or the like is used to play various games.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the above-mentioned conventional device is mainly composed of musical instruments, and the game device is only added as an accessory, so it lacks playability and is not interesting for young children. There is a problem with missing parts.

Further, in the above device, the game device is a small electronic device.
Since it is attached as an accessory to a board instrument, it is difficult for young children to operate it, such as switching from the instrument function to the game function, and it is not suitable for young children to learn music while playing. Ta.

The present invention was devised in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to provide an educational toy suitable for young children and the like to learn music while playing.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objects of the present invention, the structural features of the present invention are to provide an educational toy consisting of a plurality of boxes, each box being The body includes a tilt sensor that detects that the box body is tilted and outputs a detection signal, and a musical sound generating means that generates a unique musical sound for each box body in response to the detection signal from the tilt sensor. The reason is that each is built-in.

(Operation of the Invention) In the present invention configured as described above, when the box is tilted, the inclination sensor detects the inclination of the box, and in response to this detection, the musical sound generating means is individually attached to the box. Since it generates a musical sound, if you arrange the boxes in a row like in the so-called ``domino game'' and flip the first (or last) box, each box will fall to the last (or first) box. As the boxes fall, each box sequentially generates its own unique musical tone. In addition, if you hold one or more of the boxes in your hand and shake the box, the tilt sensor will detect the inclination of the box in synchronization with the shaking motion, so the box will A unique musical tone is generated in the box according to the motion of shaking the box.

(Effects of the Invention) As can be understood from the above description of the operation, after arranging a plurality of boxes, by a simple operation such as knocking down the first or last box, or holding any box in your hand and shaking it, Since each box can sequentially generate a plurality of unique musical tones, or each box can repeatedly generate a unique musical tone, even young children can freely play with the box. In addition, since each box generates a unique musical tone, the order in which the musical tones are generated can be changed by changing the arrangement order of the boxes, or by changing the type and number of boxes held in the front handle. The types of musical tones played and the types of musical tones (chords) generated at the same time are changed, which is useful for teaching children's sense of pitch. This allows young children and the like to learn music while playing.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Second
The figure shows a perspective view of one of the plurality of boxes constituting the educational toy of the present invention. The box body 10 is made of plastic, wood, or the like and is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped.

A speaker 11 is embedded in the front face 10a of the box 10, and displays such as "do", "shi", etc. indicating the pitch of musical tones produced from the speaker 11 are provided.

Furthermore, the box body 10 incorporates an electric circuit device 20 shown in FIG. 1, and the device 20 has a tilt sensor 21. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the inclination sensor 21 has a conductive rod 21a that is swingably supported at its upper end by a ball joint connection to the upper inner wall 10b of the box body 10. A weight 21b is fixed to the lower end of this conductive rod 21a, and the box body 1
The conductive rod 21a swings due to the zero inclination. A frame 21c made of a conductive material is disposed in the middle of the conductive rod 21a so as to surround the conductive rod 21a, and the frame 21c is fixed to the side inner wall 10c of the box 10.

Further, lead wires 2 are attached to the conductive rod 21a and the frame 21c, respectively.
One ends of 1d and 21e are connected by soldering, and the swinging of the conductive rod 21a causes the conductive rod 21a to connect to the frame 21c.
, the voltage signal applied to the other end of one lead wire 21d (or 21e) is transferred to the other lead wire 21e.
(or 21d) is output to the other end.

Thereby, the inclination sensor 21 detects the inclination of the box 10 and outputs the voltage signal, that is, the detection signal at the time of the detection.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tilt sensor 21 configured in this manner is connected to a differentiation circuit 22.
differentiates the detection signal from the inclination sensor 21 at the rising edge and outputs it. A musical tone signal forming circuit 23 is connected to the differentiating circuit 22, and the circuit 23 forms and outputs a musical tone signal of a predetermined pitch in synchronization with the differential pulse signal from the differentiating circuit 23.

The pitch of this musical tone signal is predetermined for each box 10, and the indication "do" is given to each box 10.

It corresponds to the musical scale such as "shi"... The output of the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 is sent to the speaker 11 via the amplifier 24.
The speaker 11 generates a musical tone corresponding to the musical tone signal output from the musical tone signal forming circuit 23.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained along with an example of its usage. First, a plurality of boxes 10
．． 10... are prepared, and each box 10 is arranged in a - row at a predetermined interval (an interval shorter than the height of the box 10) like a "domino game".

Thereafter, when the first or last box 10 in the row is overturned, each box 10 is overturned one after another as shown in FIG. 4. As each box 10 falls, the inclination sensor 21 detects the inclination of the box 10 in each box 10 and outputs a detection signal to the differentiating circuit 22. and outputs the differential pulse signal to the musical tone signal forming circuit 23. By supplying this differential pulse signal, the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 forms a musical tone signal with a unique pitch for the box 10 and supplies the same signal to the speaker 11 via the amplifier 24, so that each box 10 speakers 1
1, musical tones having pitches unique to each box 10 are sequentially emitted in synchronization with the falling of each box 10.

In addition, in the above method, each box 10 is arranged in one row, but the same box 10 is arranged in 2 rows, 3 rows, etc., or 2 rows, 3 rows, etc. in the middle of the row.
If they are arranged in such a manner, a plurality of boxes 10 will fall at the same time, and a plurality of musical tones will be emitted at the same time. By doing this, it is also possible to generate chords or the like made up of a plurality of musical tones.

Furthermore, in the above explanation, the plurality of boxes 10, 10...
Although the same boxes 10°10... are arranged in a row or in multiple rows and are turned over one after another, multiple boxes 10.10...
・Extract one box 10 from among them, overturn only one box 10, hold it in your hand and shake it to remove the same box 10.
o may be tilted so that the extracted box lO produces a musical tone with a unique pitch. box body 10 (
For example, by extracting the boxes 10) that pronounce the chord constituent tones "do,""mi," and "so," these extracted boxes 10 are simultaneously overturned or held in the hand and tilted to form a chord. A plurality of musical tones may be generated simultaneously.

As can be understood from the above explanation, according to the toy according to the above embodiment, musical tones can be produced by simple operations such as arranging the boxes 1o and sequentially overturning them, or holding them in the hand and shaking them. Therefore, even young children can play freely with the toy. Furthermore, since each box 10 produces a musical tone having a unique pitch, by changing the arrangement order of each box 1o and the type of boxes 10 to be extracted, the pronunciation type of the musical tone, the musical tone to be emitted, etc. The type of training has been changed to listening training. As a result, young children and the like can learn music while playing.

Next, a modification of the above embodiment will be described.

(1) In the above embodiment, each box 10 is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped shape, but the head of the box 10 may be circular or triangular, and the shape is arbitrary. be.

(2) In the above embodiment, the pitch of musical tones sounded from each box 10 is displayed on the front face 10a of the box 10 using characters such as "do", "shi", etc. The box body 10 may be colored to display the highest pitch of the musical tone to be pronounced by color, or the same pitch may be displayed by both letters and colors. The shape of the head of the box 10 may be changed as in (1) to display the pitch of musical tones produced from the box 10. This makes it more familiar to young children and the like.

(3) In the above embodiment, for each box 10, one box
Although the pitches of the musical tones to be sounded are made to differ from 0, it is also possible to make the tone, volume, tone length (note length), and other musical tones of the tones to be pronounced different. ,
The tone (waveform) of the musical tone signal formed by the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 of the above embodiment or the envelope waveform given to the signal may be made different for each box body 10.

Furthermore, even if the musical tone does not have a pitch as described above, the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 forms a musical tone signal corresponding to the sound of a percussion instrument such as a drum or cymbal, so that the percussion instrument sound can be generated from each box 10. It is also possible to make the music sound out. This makes it possible to teach music not only about pitch, but also about timbre, volume, duration, etc.

(4) In the above embodiment, each box 10 produces only one note, but each box 10 has a different chord, such as "domino", "farad", etc. A plurality of musical tones may be sounded at the same time. In this case, a plurality of musical tone signal forming circuits that form and output a plurality of musical tone signals constituting a chord together with musical tone signals from the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 may be provided in each box 10 in parallel with the musical tone signal forming circuit 23. Bye. This improves the effect of music education regarding chords.

(5) Furthermore, in the above embodiment and the modified examples of (3) and (4'') above, when the differential pulse signal from the differentiating circuit 22 is input to the musical tone signal forming circuit 23, the musical tone is generated only once. Although the sound is generated from the box body 10, a plurality of musical tones may be generated from the box body 10 when the pulse signal is input to the musical tone signal forming circuit 23. For example,
Rhythm sounds consisting of a musical tone sequence or a percussion instrument tone sequence having a pitch of one or two measures of a certain song may be generated. In this case, the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 may be
Replace the automatic performance machine or autorhythm device with an automatic performance machine that produces a string of musical tones with a length of about one measure or two measures, or replace it with an autorhythm device that produces rhythmic sounds of the same length. The trigger may be triggered by a differential pulse signal from the differentiating circuit 22.

However, in this case, in order to use the toy, as in the above-mentioned "domino game", each box 10 is toppled one after another, and the box 10 that fell first finishes producing the musical tone. , the next overturning box 10 will start producing musical sounds, so each box ′
It is necessary to sequentially overturn the box 10 by hand or the like, or to shake the box 10 by holding it in the hand as described above. This makes it possible to teach music such as long melodies or rhythms.

(6) In the above embodiment and the modified examples of (3) and (4) above, a musical tone having a pitch emitted from each box body 10,
Percussion instrument sounds, musical tone sequences, and rhythm sounds are fixed for each box 10, but each box 10 is provided with a changeover switch, and the pitch, timbre, and volume of the musical tones produced by switching the switch are changed. , tone length, musical tone sequence, or rhythm type may be changed. In this case, the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 is configured such that the pitch, timbre, volume, or tone length of the musical tone is switched and controlled by the changeover switch, or the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 is configured such that the pitch, timbre, volume, or tone length of the musical tone is controlled by the changeover switch, or the musical tone signal forming circuit 23 is controlled by the changeover switch. What is necessary is to replace the circuit with a circuit, and to control the changeover of the tone sequence and rhythm type using the changeover switch in the replaced circuit. This allows one toy to be used for a variety of music education purposes.

(7) The inclination sensor 21 is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 3, but any other structure that can detect the inclination of the box 10 may be used. For example, the tilt sensor 21
Alternatively, one that detects the inclination angle of the box 10 and outputs a detection signal representing the detected inclination angle may be used. In this case, the pitch, timbre, volume, etc. of the musical tone may be variably controlled in accordance with this detection signal.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram showing an example of an electric circuit device built into the box of the educational toy of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of the box of the educational toy of the present invention. , FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the inclination sensor of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a bare surface of use B for explaining an example of how to use the educational toy of the present invention. Explanation of the symbols 10...Box body, 11...Speaker, 20...Electric circuit device, 21...Inclination sensor, 23...Musical tone signal forming circuit. Applicant Nippon Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Teru Hase - (1 other person) Figure 1 Figure 4 Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) An educational toy consisting of a plurality of boxes, each box having a tilt sensor that detects that the box is tilted and outputs a detection signal, and a tilt sensor that responds to the detection signal from the tilt sensor. An educational toy characterized in that each box body has a built-in musical sound generating means for generating a unique musical sound. (2) The educational use according to claim 1, wherein the musical sound generating means generates musical sounds in which at least one musical sound element such as pitch, timbre, volume, and duration differs for each box. toy. (3) The educational toy according to claim 1, wherein the musical tone generating means simultaneously generates a plurality of musical tones constituting different chords for each box. (4) The educational toy according to claim 1, wherein the musical tone generating means sequentially generates a plurality of musical tones having different pitch sequences for each box. (5) The educational toy according to claim 1, wherein the musical sound generating means generates a different percussion sound for each box.