US1534097A - Mechanical toy - Google Patents

Description

April 21, 1925 1,534,097

J. WILHELM ET AL MECHANICAL TOY 7 Filed Aug 25, 1920 rrrn stars are renew JOSEPH VVILHELM AND CI-IiE-BJLJ EZS A. KAYS, F I'IICKEES ROCKS, PENNSYLVANIA.

MECHANICAL TOY.

Application filed August 25, 1920. Serial 110. 406,020.

To all whom it may GOHOMEL' Be it known that JosnririlVlLHiiLBi and Cniinnus A. Kai's, citizens of the United States,residing at lvlcliees Rocks, in the county of Allegheny and State of Penn sylvania, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Mechanical Toys, of which the following is a specification.

This, invention relates to mechanical toys and more articularly to automatic toys operated by the force of gravity.

One of the. main objects of this invention is to provide a toy of simple construction cheap manufacture, devoid of ropes, pulleys or other mechanical elements which are easily put out of working order. Another object is to produce a toy in which the weight ofn arbles is used to produce the necessary operating power. A further object is to provide a toy having simultaneously a horizontal rotary motion and a vertical swinging motion. Still further object is to provide a toy that can be easily taken apart for shipment and storage in reduced size containers.

. In the drawings which represent the preferred construction of the invention, and

V which form part of this specification Fig. l is a perspective view showing the complete toy assembled and ready for operation. I

Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the side elevation of the marble bucket, positioned at the forward end of the rocker-beam.

Fig. 3 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 2.

Fig. t is a cross sectional view showing the lnarble grate in position for arresting the downward rolling motion of themarbles.

Fig. is also a cross sectional view showthe marble 'ate in position lor releasing the first ni-arole and stopping the other niarbles in the rear. v

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the preferred construction of this toy consists of an open marble trough l supported by the four legs 2. The trough. is suitably inclined to enable the marbles to roll by-their own force of gravity into the narrowed forward or lower part 8, here'- aiterto be called the runway of the trough. Adjacent to the end of the runway a hole 4 is cut in the bottom 5 of the trough, sailiciently large to allow a marble to I tall through. The marbles 6 are prevented ironi running out through hole t by a special trigger operated gate 7 which consists of a marble-gate 8 made of a suitably bent strip of sheet metal cut to operate within the runway and secured to a shaft 9 rochablv mounted in two bearings 10 and 10, provided in supports 11 and 12 outwardly secured on each side of the runway. T he inner end of the shaft 9 is extended a suitable amount beyond the support 11 and is provided with a finger l3 bent downwardly and at right angle to the shaft. This finger engages into an oblong hole 1 L provided in the horizontal arm 15 of the trigger lever 16, roclrable at 17 on a rivet l7 supporter. by the inner wall of the runway. The lower end 16 is made of sufiicient length and weight to keep the trigger lever nor mally in a vertical position by the force of gravity.

The moving part proper ot the toy consists oi a vertical post 0 channel shaped cross section owing to the rigidity ait'orded thereby, pivotally mounted at its lower and upper end by the pins 1.9 and 20 secured to the post and working in the lower bearing 21 and in the upper bearing 22 provided in the bracket 23 the legs 2% and 25 01"- which are suitably secured to the trough to insureproper alignment of the post. A rocker beam 26 is rockably mounted on pin 27 supported by the flanges of the post intermediate its supports and is provided at its forward end with the bucket 28, preferably made out of a sin le piece of sheet metal, for receivinga marble as it falls through the hole Both sides 29 and 30 of this bucket are secured to the legs of the beam 26, the rear end being closed by the wall 31- to prevent the marble from rolling backward when the beam occupies the position shown in Fig. 1. A discharge spout 32 provided at the forward end of the bucket and is suitably inclined so as to hold the marble in the bucket during its downward and rotating motion, while also enabling the marble to roll out of tl e bucket when the latter has reached its lowermost position.

The rear end of the balancing beam is provided with a counterweight 33, so proportioned that the rear end will outweigh the forward end of the beam when the bucket is empty, and that this condition will be reversed as soon as the bucket has received a marble. Both sides of the rocker beain are stiffened by the flanges 34 prol8, pr ferably or fit) vided onthe outside of the beam and also by the tie plate placed between both legs of the beam and secured thereto.

Adjacent to the lower end or the post a horizontal shaft- 36 is rotatively mounted in both flanges of the postandis provided at;

the forward end with a small rack gear 37 secured thereto and which is acted upon by i crown-gear d8, preferably made. of stamped metal and meshing with a stationary crown gear 44, ofsuiiicient depth to clear the rack when at its lowest position, provided-with a bottom inthe center of which is former an inwardly projecting depression as pro vided with the hole 21, forming the lower bearing and uide for tlie pin 19 of thepost.

The shaft is shown in Fig. 1 as being provided with a crank 50, it being our intention toprovide the toy with an articulated figure of a man not shown standing upon a platform not shown and holding the crank in his hands, thus conveying the'idea as though he were operating the toy instead or the marbles.

The stationary crown gear is securely mounted on a base lT, preferably made of sheet metal, which forms also the base for the 'four legs 2 which are held in position by inserting their bent feet 9f into the sleeves 4:8 stamped directly in the base. The legs are furthermore stiffened by the braces a9 secured and suitably positioned on the legs.

Assuming that the trough be provided with marbles and that the toy be not working, the marbles will beprevented from rolling out through the hole l, in the runway,

by the gate mechanism which will occupy the position shown inhig. a. Owing to the force of gravity due to-its weight, the trigger lever will be vertical and thereby cause the marble gate'to take a practically horizontal position, its curved forward end preventing the first marble from passing under it. a

When it is desired to operate thetoy, a slight push is given'thebucket-end otthe rocker beam against the trigger, thereby forcing the lower end of the latter backward and causing the finger 13 of the gate shaft, and the gate proper, to describe a clock-wise movement and'take the position shown in F 5. l he forward end ofthe gate will be raised a 'suflicient amount to clear the marble and a'llow'it to fall through the hole in the, runway and into the bucket. The added weight of the marble will cause the bucket to fallslowly and the rear end of will therefore describe a downward spiral movement until'it occupies a sul'liciently inclined position as to allow the-marble to roll out of it. lVhen this occurs, the counter weight endrol the rocker beam will exert a sufficient pressure on the rackbar toslowly push it down thus creating a reverse or counter clockwise motion of the rocker beam until theever rising bucket end strikes against the trigger lever to release a second marble This motion will be repeated as long as marbles are fedintothe trough:

For the purpose of reducing the packing space required by the-toy, all the principal parts of the toy are so'connected together as to be easily taken apa-rt,-by-either removing the-fulcrum pin of the rocker beam or pressing the feet of the trough supporting legs out of engagement with their respective sleeves.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanyingdrawings, it shouldbe apparent that we have provided a toy of simple construction and positive operation.

It-is otcourse to be understood that the parts may be constructed in various other ways than shown, so therefore we do not wish to be limited in any manner except as set forth in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A toy comprising a base, an elevated marble trough supported on the base, avertical poston the base in proximity to said trough rotatable about'its vertical; axis, a transverse beam pivotally carried on the post having a marblereceiving bucket at one end thereof, means for normally main taining the bucket end of the beam in elevated position, saidbeam being adapted to rock downwardly when a marble is received in the bucket, means actuated throughthe movement of said beam for fe'eding marbles into-thebucketfrom said trough one ata time to efiect a'rocking movementofthe beam, cooperatinggearmg on the post and base for eliT-ectingl a rotative movement of the post, and means bperatwely: connecting the beam with saidgearing for operating the same when the beam -is rocked. 2. A toy comprising an elevated marble receiving trough, a vertically pivoted post in proximity to the trough, a rocker beam carried by the post on a horizontal pivot, gearing for effecting rotation of the post, said gearing including a fixed curved rack in proximity to the post, a shaft on the post, a pinion on the shaft for engaging the rack, a driving connection between the beam and the shaft for rotating the latter upon a rocking movementof the former said beam having a bucket at one end and means pro viding a counter-weight at the other end, delivery means on the trough, and means actuated through the movement of the beam for controlling said delivery means.

3. A toy comprising an elevated marble receiving trough, means for delivering marble's therefrom, a rocker beam, a vertically pivoted post in which the rocker beam is pivotally carried, a bucket on said beam adapted to receive mar les from said delivery means, a counterweight on the other end of'the beam, gearing for rotating the post, means including a rack and pinion for operatively connecting the rocker beam Y' r 1 n .1 k V with the post iotatmg gearing, whci eby the post may be rotated when the beam is rocked, and means operated through the movement of the beam for controlling the delivery of marbles from the delivery means to the bucket. I

4-. ln a toy of the character described, a base; a. vertical post pivotally mounted at both ends; a rocker beam fulcrumed intermediate the pivots of said post for rocking movement in a vertical plane; a bucket positioned at the forward end and a counterweight positioned at the rear end of said beam; a horizontally rotating shaft mounted upon and adjacent the lower end of said post; a gear-pinion secured on said shaft and outwardly of said'post; rack bar having its upper end rockably mounted intermediate the fulcrnm and the counterweight of said rocker-beam; a rockably mounted plate positioned between said rack-bar and post for slidably gul'dlng sa1d rack bar into permanent engagement with said plnion; a

stationary crown-gear disposed centrally of the lower pivot of said post and secured to said base; a gear secured on the opposite end of said shaft and engaging said stationary crown gear.

5. Ina toy of the character described, a base, a vertical post pivotally mounted at both ends; a rocker beam fulcrumed intermediate the pivots of said posts for rocking movement in a vertical plane; a bucket positioned at the forward end and a counterweight positioned at the rear end of said beam; a horizontally rotating shaft mounted upon and adjacent the lower end of said post; a gear-pinion secured on said shaft and outwardly of said post; a rack-bar having its upper end rockably mounted intermediate the fulcrum and the counterweight of said rocker-beam, and slidably guided for permanent engagement with said pinion; a stationary crown-gear disposed centrally of the lower pivot of said post and secured to said base; a gear secured on the opposite end of said shaft and engaging said crowngear; an elevated marble holding trough suitably inclined to cause the marbles contained therein to roll by gravity into a runway provided at the forward end of said trough; an aperture provided at the for ward end of said runway; a gate secured to a rockably mounted shaft having a clownwardly depending finger; a trigger lever outwardly mounted of the runway, the lower arm of said lever operating by the force of gravity to normally hold the gate in a position to arrest the movement of the marbles; the upper arm of said lever being bent outwardly for engagement with the finger of said gate shaft and holding the gate in open position when the lower arm of the trigger lever is struck by the forward end of the rocker beam.

In testimony whereof they aflix their signatures.

JOSEPH wiLHnLM. CHARLES A. KAYS.

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