US1793121A

US1793121A - Toy

Info

Publication number: US1793121A
Application number: US292946A
Authority: US
Inventors: Muller Heinrich
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1928-04-04
Filing date: 1928-07-16
Publication date: 1931-02-17
Anticipated expiration: 1948-02-17

Description

' Feb. 17, 1931. Q MULLER I 1,793,121

'F'ile d July 16:. 1928 35 cording to my present invention.

Patented Feb. 17, 1931 PATENT OFFICE Hammer: minnnn, or NUREMBEBG, Guam TOY Application filed July 16, 1928, Serial No. 292,946, and in Germany April 4, 1928.

. This invention relates to toys and more especially consists in further improvements provided on toys representing the figure of an animal or the like which is operated by ,6 a mechanism in a manner to imitate natural motion, such as for instance the alternate downward and upward motion of a bird, when picking up food from the ground or a walking, dancing or similar motion of an 10 animal. The general features of the toy to which my present invention relates are described and claimed in a co-pending United States application for patent Serial No. 264,847, filed March 26, 1928, now U. S.

15 iatent No. 1,738,604, dated December 10,

My present invention consists particularlyas an example of the construction according to m present invention a toy in the form of a ird provided with a new arrangement of'the fly-wheel and the legs and feet ac- In the drawin Fig. 1 is a side-view of the toy partly roken' away showing vthe interior driving mechanism thereof, Fig. 2 a front view and section to Fig. 1, Fig. 3 a bottom view taken on Fig. 1 and Figs. 4 to 7 are detail views, partly in section, showing the construction of the supporting feet. according to my present invention. Fig. 8 shows in an enlarged scale the spring-driven mechanism of my present toy together with the rotective wall rovided on said mechanism,

ig. 9 is an en arged cross section through the body of the bird showing with particular clearness the way in which a cover of texture or the like may be fastened to the body of the toy as well as the action of said protecting wall in connection with the fastenin of said cover.

Re erring now more particularly to the drawlng, the body 1 of-the toy is made in the form of a bird and may be provided with a cover of a texture or plush 1. Within the body of the bird. which may preferably be made from sheet-metal there is mounted a sprmg-operated driving mechanism 4,'comprising an eccentrically mounted fiy-wheel 6 as more fully described in m abovementioned co-pending application erial No. 264,847. The driving mechanism is mounted within the body of the toy in such a position relativel thereto that said fly-wheel 6 will be positloned at a point about within the breast of the bird body, that is to say about midway between the beak and the foot plates orrtoes 20. In this manner the distribution of the masses inthe front and rear of said fiy -wheel' 6 will be such that the figure during rest of said fly-wheel will automaticall tion to this on account of the position of the fly-wheel relatively to the body of the bird there will be produced during rotation of said fly-wheel a displacement of the equilibrium which displacement results into a tilting or oscillating motion, thus imparting to the body of the bird a motion which imitates the natural picking motion. In addition to this pickbe set back upon its feet. In addiing motion the eccentrical rotationof the fiywheel which preferably is positioned outside of the plane of symmetry of the body of the bird will impart to the toy also the natural hopping or dancing motion of the bird. v The legs 13 are mounted on the bird body 1 and are extending so far to the front that the center of gravity of said body will be positioned just above the points of support. 11 consequence thereof a very small displacement of the center of gravity will be necessary in order to impprt a tilting or similar motion of the bird ody towards the front without an shocks or other irregularities. The motlon imparted to the toy by action of the fly-wheel will be further favorably acted upon by the form of the foot portion is somewhat upwardly bent so that the feet or supporting plates as a whole will be of the form of more or less arched suporting surfaces on which the body of the Bird may be easily rocked or tilted towards the front and the *rear in accordance with the periods of motion of the fly-wheel. A picking motion may thus also be produced during the hopping, dancing or similarmotion of the toy. When producing said picking motion the body of the bird will alternately be supported by the point of the beak and the rear portion or toes of the foot plates I 20. The foot plates 20 are fastened on the legs 13, said legs being flattened at their under somewhat downwardly bent ends as shown at 21 in Fig. 6, while the foot plates are provided with a slot or aperture 23 adapted to receive the flattened part 21 of the legs 13. At the place of the slot or aperture 23 the foot plate is somewhat upwardly bent as shown at 22. The flattened portions 23 of the legs 13 are inserted into said slots or apertures 23 and firmly fastened therein by riveting. The head of the rivet as indicated at 21 is positioned within the mouldshaped portion 22 of the foot-plate and countersunk therein in order to not interfere with the rocking motion of the body of the toy on. the arched supporting sur faces 20. i

It is of course also possible to place the legs of the toy figure at such a position relatively to the body of the bird that the head parts thereof will have a slight overweight so that the figure as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 in inoperative condition of the driving mechanism will be supported by the beak and the two supporting lates or legs of the bird. By action of the y-wheel, however, the head portion of the body of the bird will be moved or rocked towards above, thus bringing about a motion imitating the natural icking motionof a bird. V

In or er to provide a simple cover of cloth, texture'or the like on the body of the toy to imitate the natural plumage of a bird, the bird body is formed out of a metal sheet and provided with a joint as indicated at 18. The joint 18 may be firmly kept to-- gether by means of rivets or similar devices. The spring-actuated driving mechaism 4 is provided as particularly shown in Figs. 8 and 9 with aprotecting wall 19 forming an extension of one of the plates of the driving work. The protectin wall 19 is so bent that it will overlap the oint 18 along the under side of the body of the toy.

The cover 1" imitating the plumage may now be easily placed over the body of the bird and its ends inserted into the joint 18 and firmly kept in position by the latter. At the same time the protecting wall 19 will have the effect, that the ends of the cover 1" which project through the joint 18 into the interior of the body 1 will be ositively kept out of the path of motion of said flywheel 6. The protective wall 19 in addition to this will also engage the joint 18 from within and provide a considerable reinforcement for said joint. This novel protecting wall according to my present invention will essentially simplify the mode of fastening ornamental covers or the like upon the body of the toy and at the same time safely prevent against any obstruction within the path of motion of the fly-wheel.

In order to provide during motion of the toy figure a counter-action against the tendency of the tiltingof the toy towards the side opposite to the fly-wheel 6, the body l of the toy is provided with a surplus of mass on the side of the fly-wheel. This surplus of mass will now effectively counter-act the lifting motion exerted upon the toy by the fly-wheel and safely prevent the toy from falling towards the side opposite to the flywheel.

This one-sided surplus of mass given to the body of the toy may be accomplished in two ways, viz: either by providing a weight within the body of the toy or by properly shaping or positioning the legs. In the latter case no surplus of matter needs to be provided in or der to produce a surplus of weight on one side of the toy.

This mode of providing a one-sided surplus of weight without the employment of any additional matter is shown in Fig. 2.

For this purpose the one leg 13 of the body of the toy which is positioned on the side of the fly-wheel 6 is made of somewhat smaller length than the other leg so that the toy will rest with a greater part of its mass upon said shorter leg, this causing the toy during operation of the fly-wheel to have a tendency of moving more easily towards said shorter leg.

Essentially the same'efiect may be attained by fixing the leg which is positioned on the side of the fiy-wheel 6 to the body 1 of the toy at a smaller distance from the central plane of symmetry of the latter. The different distances of the legs from said central plane of symmetry are indicated in Fig. 2 at a: and y.v In this case the le which is at a smaller distance from the p ane of symmetry of the toy body may likewise be made of smaller length than the other leg.

I claim:

1. In a toy of the form of a bird, the combination of a frame mounted within the body of the bird, a sprin -actuated driving mechanism mounted wit in said frame, an eccentrically mounted fly-wheel driven by said mechanism, and a protective wall associated with said frame to form a shield for the path of motion of said flywheel.

2. A toy of the form of a bird, comprising a body of sheet-metal having a joint along till , vcient length towards the rear to limit tilting its under side, a cover imitatin the plumage of a bird and laid around said %ody of sheetmetal, the ends of said cover extending into said joint and being fixed therein, a drivin mechanism provided within said body'o sheet-metal, an eccentrically mounted flywheel driven by said driving mechanism, and a protective shield intermediate the path of motion of said fly-wheel and said ends of said cover when fixed in said joint, to prevent said ends of said cover from entangling with said fiy-wheel when rotating.

' 3. A to of the form of a bird, comprising I a body 0 sheet-metal having a joint along its under side, a cover imitatin the plumage of a bird and laid around said ody of sheetmetal, the ends of said cover extendinginto said joint and being fixed therein, a driving mechanism provided within 'saidbody of sheet-metal, an eccentrically mounted fly-' wheel driven by said drivin mechanism, and a protective shield interme 'ate the path of motion of said fly-wheel and said ends of said cover when fixed in said joint, to prevent said ends of said cover from entangling withsaid fly-wheel when rotating, said rotective shield engaging from within sai edges of said sheet-metal to provide a re-mforcement for said body of sheet-metal.

4. A toy of the form of. bird comprising an eccentricall mounted fly-wheel ositioned within the reast portion of the bird at a small distance from the center of gravity of-the toy, drivin means for rotatin' said fly-wheel, legs an supporting plates in the form of toes fixed on'said legs, said sup rting plates being bent upwardly at the nt end thereof to provide an arched bottom surface on which the body of the bird may make a rocking motion during rotation oi themillgwheel, said supporting platesbeing of of the toy in rearward direction.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature.

HEINRICH MILLER;