US1006045A - Toy vehicle. - Google Patents

Description

G. M. BARTHOLOMEW.

TOY VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED 11116.15, 1910.

1,006,045. Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

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CASSIUS M. BARTHOLOMEVT, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE MOREHOUSE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

TOY VEHICLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1'7, 1911.

Application filed August 15, 1910. Serial No. 577,332.

To all whom it may concern--- Be it known that I, CAssIUs M. BARTHOLO- MEW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Toy Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a toy vehicle with improved and simplified means for propelling the same.

The invention is embodied in the construction hereinafter described and claimed, the invention not being confined to the exact forms of the parts shown.

In the accompanying drawingl*igure 1 is a top plan view, with the rear portion of the seat broken out to showdetails of the propelling devices. Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the rear portion of the near side of the frame broken out and the wheel at that side removed. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on a larger scale to show the ratchet and spring actuated driving pawl. Fig. l is a view in elevation of the forward or guiding end of the vehicle.

The main frame includes parallel side rails 5 and a forward goose neck member 6, the rails 5 being bent at their forward ends to meet and be secured to the goose neck member which latter terminates at its upper end in a sleeve 7. The seat 8 and flanking strips 8 thereof are secured in elevated position upon suitable standards 9 rising from the main frame.

The character 10 designates the rear axle which is secured stationarily between the rear ends of the side rails. Because of the construction herein described the axle can be of small diameter or slender.

11, 11 designates the rear wheels which turn freely on the fixed axle and are provided at their inner hub portions with ratchet teeth 12.

The driving device includes a drum 13 having two laterally extending yoke-like members 14 of corresponding form and size, one secured by bolts to each of the opposite faces of the drum, and pawls 15 pivoted on laterally extending bosses 14 at the outer ends of the yokes to engage the ratchets 12 of the wheels. Each of the pawls 15 has a spring 15 secured at 15 to hold the pawl normally engaged with a tooth of the ratchet. A stop 15 can be provided to limit the movement of the pawl from the ratchet. Secured at one end of the axle 10 and within one yoke is a stiff coil spring 16, said spring having its other end formed as an arm 16 reaching outward to bear against the other yoke and so that if the spring be wound up its tendency shall be to rotate the yoke in a direction contrary to that of the wheels of the vehicle when the latter is driven forward. The drum is made with an ample central opening to permit the passage and play of the spring and the cross pieces of the yoke members are drilled or formed at 14- to provide journals that turn on the stationary shaft.

141- are collars secured on the axle between the ends of the yokes and ratchet hubs to take end thrusts.

Attached at 1? to the drum 1?) is one end of a cord or band 17 the free end of which is extended forward under the seat and around a pulley 18 journaled between the arms constituting the goose-neck member. The portion 17 is passed under the pulley 18 and then rearward where its end is provided with a handle 19 that can be grasped with both hands of the rider when the latter is seated on the seat of the vehicle. The cord 17 is wound up by the action of the spring 16 on the driving member, the two pawls slipping back over the teeth of the ratchets during this operation. In practice the rider intermittently pulls upon and releases the cord thereby imparting a succession of impulses to the rear wheels and vehicle, but during the operation the mo tion of the vehicle after being started is continuous.

The forward end of the vehicle is supported upon a single wheel 20, said wheel being journaled in the tangs of a fork 21 that has its shank 22 journaled in the sleeve 7 at the forward end of the goose neck before described. The forward side of the sleeve 7 has substantially a V-shaped downward projection 7 that, engages a corre sponding notch 21" in the fork when the forward wheel stands in a plane parallel to the two rear wheels. When the forward wheel is thus latched the vehicle will move in a straight line. The shank 22 is furnished with a cotter pin 22 inserted through a hole sufficiently above the upper end of the sleeve 7 to permit the sleeve to rise and fall on the shank so that the fork can be shifted to guide the vehicle in a curved direction. The fork 21 is provided with a lateral projection 23 at each side upon which is pivoted a foot rest 24;.

In use the rider customarily sits upon the seat and stretches his legs forward with his feet lodged upon the foot rests. By the pressure of one foot or the other the front wheel is turned to guide the vehicle in the desired direction, but in this operation the sleeve 7 must be lifted and when the foot pressure is relieved the weight of the rider and forward end of the vehicle automatically causes the V-shaped projection of the sleeve to reenter the notch. The cotter pin prevents the separation of the fork from the rest of the vehicle.

With the particular construction of driving member shown and described room is provided for a coil spring of ample length and power to rewind the cord, and the propelling power is applied at a central point between the wheels and transmitted equally to both wheels. The construction is simple and effective and will endure hard usage. It is not liable to get out of order and is easily repaired.

What I claim is:

In a toy vehicle, the combination with a frame, a stationary axle, a pair of wheels having ratchet hubs turning on said axle near the ends thereof, a driving member for said wheels comprising a cord winding drum centrally located with reference to said axle, a cord thereon, laterally extending open yokes secured to the sides of said drum and pawls on said yokes to engage the ratcheted hubs, and a spring on the axle within said yokes to retract the cord winding drum to wind the cord thereon substantially as described.

CASSIUS M. BARTHOLOMEWV.

Witnesses HAYME FoURD, CHAS. S. DRUGGAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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