US169580A - Improvement in toy targets - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES JOSEPH POZNANSKI,

on NEW YORK, N. Y. I

IMPROVEM ENT IN TOY TARGETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 169,580, dated November 2, 1875; application filed September 15, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH POZNANSKI, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Toy Targets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same. l

The object of my invention is to combine amusement with instruction, to foster a spirit of patriotism, and to encourage habits of economy; and to this end the invention consists in a novel construction of the target, and in certain details of arrangement and combination of devices operating in connection therewith, for placing and displacing a flag or flags, for operating a rotating disk or tablet containing a series of inscriptions, and for securing in a bank or receptacle coins used as projectiles and discharged at the target from a toy gun or pistol.

The target may be made to represent a fort, castle, or other building, or may be of any other suitable design. In the bulls-eye is. an opening large enough to admit the passage of a coin or a missile of corresponding size.- On the rear side of this opening is a swinging door, communicating with a hammer for striking a gong, and also communicating with a device for locking and releasing an oscillating flag-staff, connected by a pawl and ratchet or other mechanism with a rotating disk or tablet containing a series of inscriptions or legends, so that when the swinging door is forced inward it operates upon the hammer to sound the bell, and also operates upon the locking device, so as to release a flag-stafl and cause it to assume-a vertical position and display a flag above the top of the target, and at the same time torotate thetablet and cause one of the legends or inscriptions to be displayed through an openingin the target. The space behind the target, in which the mechanism is inclosed, constitutes or communicates with a bank or receptacle for money, and is provided with a guard for preventing the abstraction of coins, which may be used as projectiles and discharged at the target to operate the mechanism, as described. I i

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to more fully under stand the same, I will proceed to describe in detail one modeof carrying out the invention, having reference to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a front view of a target constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken in the line no .r of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken inthe line y y of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail view, and Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken in the line 2 z of Fig. 4.

The mechanism is inclosed in a box or casing A, which may be made of any suitable material, The front or face B forms the target proper, and may be made to represent a portion of the wall of a fort or other building.

The bulls-eye of the target consists of an' opening, b, somewhat larger than the diameter of the coins in common use. 0n the rear. side of the opening I) is a door,,D, which is hinged or pivoted by its upper edge to the inner side of the face B, above the top of the opening I), so as to cover said opening when hanging vertically, but be allowed to swing toward the interior of the casing A. A lever, G, is pivoted to a lug or projection on the inner side of the face B, so as to oscillate toward'the face and back of the casing. Theupper or short arm of the lever is provided with a hook or catch, a, and is furnished with a spring, 0", having a tendency to press it toward the back of the casing. The lower or long arm of the lever extends downward and toward the center, and its end comes nearly or quite in contact with the 'rear' side of the door D, so that said door cannot be pushed very far inward without oscillating the lever.

Above the -door D is pivoted, in suitable bearings, a plate, E, having two arms, forming a right angle. To these arms are attached flag-staffs e 6 carrying flags f f which may represent different national ensigns. A'weight, G, is suspended by a link, 9, from the plate E, in such a manner as to hold one of the flagstafl's in an upright position. In the upper portion of the casing A is a slot, to, which extends the entirelength of the top of the casing, and partly down the two opposite sides,

and the flag-staffs work in said slot when the plate E is oscillated. v

The mechanism above described operates as follows: The flagstaft e is depressed to a horizontal position until it engages with the hook c of the spring latch or lever U, which holds it in such position, with theflag-staffe in an upright position, as shown in Fig. 4. When the door D is pressed inward it bears against the long arm of the locking-lever O, and oscillates it, so as to cause the book 0 to release the fiag-staife whereupon the action of the weight G upon the plate E elevates. the flag-staff to an upright position, and depresses the flagstaff 6 to a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 3.

In this manner ,much amusement may be afforded to young persons by representing the striking of one flag and the raising of another in its stead above the walls of a fort or castle.

.Whenoneof the flag-staffs is in an upright position-the other is concealed from view in the slot at, as shown in Fig. 3. If desired, the

'flag-staffi e may be omitted, in which case no flag will be. displayed until the staff 0 is re- 15 leased from. the locking device. I

' On the rear sideofthe target-B, above the bulls-e'ye b, is arotating shaft, I, having its;

beari'n-gsin-a frame, '5, of any suitableconstruction. The front end of this shaft carries.

a disk 'or tablet, L, the front surface or face of which is-diwided into a'number of spaces, of

"sector. shape or other suitableform, correspondingtwith that of an opening, J, in the. target Bt The periphery of the disk L is providedwithratchet-like shoulders l, for en gage *ment with api voted pawl, K, so that it"can. 1 rotatein one direction only. The shaft Iis connected with the plate E by any suitable means .which will allow the shaft to rotate simultaneously with the oscillation of the flag-v staffginone direction, but prevent its rotationg -llI-l3l16. opposite. direction. 'As shown herein, theshaft-I is provided with anordinary pawl and-ratchet mechanism, the ratchet m being,

#fast on the shaft I, and the pawl n being car- =ried by-a loose plate, M, from which a stud, 1),, -pro jects,andz worksin a-slot, s, in the link g,

which carries theweight Gr. I v When-the flag-staff e is depressed to be locked in. ahor'izont'al position by the latch on ler'erO, the pawln slips over the ratchet m,

.and'thedisk Lfiis held stationary bythe engagement'ofxthe pivoted pawl K with one of the.shoulders l. When the flag-staff e is releasedbythe lockingidevice, and is raised by theaction of the weight G to an upright posiltion, the. pawl it remains iengaged w-ith the ratchet m, and by the connection of the slotted link. gandplate M-the shaft I is caused to rotate-until the pawl K drops into another of 'the shoulders .l, to preventthe backward movementof. the disk.

- p In eachof the sector-shaped spaces or divisions-of the face of thedisk L is an inscription or legend ofa patriotic or other suitablechari acter-suchas, for example, a recordof some event inv the history of'the'natiom As the disk is rotated, as above described, these inscriptions are successively brought into positionfordisplaying-them through the opening J, as shown in Fig. 1, in. which a legend-is,rep-' resented as displayed through the opening immediately under flagf In addition to the devices above described, the apparatus may be provided with a bell or gong, El, and a swinging hammer or striker, h, arranged immediately behind the door D, so that when the door is forced inward and opcrates upon the lever C, it will also strike the hammer h and cause it to sound the bell.

As this invention is intended to be used as a toy bank or money-box, provision is made forthe'reception and'retention of coins discharged at the target from a toy gun or pistol. The lower portion of the interior of the casing A forms a chamber, S, which may itself constitute, or may communicate with, the receptacle for the money. This chamber is'provided with a guard, consisting of inclined planes R, extending from either or any of the sides,'so as to form a hopper, through the open bottom of which the coins drop as they are discharged into the target, and fall into the [chamber S, and their abstractionfrom the chamber is effectually prevented by having one of the inclines extend somewhat lower than the other, and under the same. The coins may be placed in the openingb, or in front-of the bulls-eye, and be driven into the receptacle by a projectile discharged at it, or in any suitable manner; or the coins themselves may be used as projectiles, and'bedischarged at the. target from a toy gun or-pistol of any suitable description, and operated in any suitable manner.

In order to produce a complete apparatus, I have provided a device for discharging the coins at the target; which device consists of a tube, T, provided with trunnionS, and mounted on a frame or carriage, U, to represent a miniature'cannon. The tube is provided-with apiston attached toa sliding rod, 4;, surrounded by a spiral spring, and with a trigger, w, for holding the piston when the rod 4) is drawn back and the spring compressed. The gun-being properly sighted, it is loaded by dropping a coin through a slot, t, near the breech of the gun. The trigger to is then depressed, whereupon the sudden expansion of the spring drives the piston forward and discharges the coin at the target.

In an apparatus constructed as herein described, the entire operation is as follows The flag-staff e is first depressed and locked. in a horizontal position, so as to bring the staff-"-e to an upright position, and display the flagf above the top of the target. The c'oin is then discharged from the gun, and, entering the 1am a the inclines Rinto the chamber S. The chamber S may be provided with a door, s, for removing the money when desired.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-'- 1. A toy target provided with a money-receptacle, into which coins can be deposited through the bulls-eye, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the open bulls-eye b, the swinging door D, the locking and releasing lever and catch O '0, andthe oscillating flag-staff e or 6 arranged to operate as herein shown and described,

3. The combination, with an open bulls-eye and a movable door, of a rotating disk or tab let, substantially as herein described.

4. The combination, with the bulls-eye and movable door, of inclines or guards forming a money safe or receptacle, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

JOS. POZNANSKI.

Witnesses HENRY T. BROWN, MICHAEL RYAN.

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