US1883265A - Toy - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 18, 1932. v 5; wu 1,883,265

TOY

Filed Aug. 24, 1928 In yen for 5. F Wu a aer Patented Get. 18, 1932 PATENT OFFICE BENJAMIN .E. 'WUPIPER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Application filed August 24, 1928.

My invention relates generally to puzzle toys and more particularly to Cartes1an divers and similar toys.

A Cartesian diver is the name customarily used to describe a scientific toy which comprises a sealed container, having one or more slightly flexible walls, filled with a liquid in which a small diver normally having a specific gravity slightly less than that of the liquid, is immersed. The diver usually has an air pocket hydraulically in communication with the liquid so that when the pressure of the liquid is increased by application of force to the flexible wall or walls of the container the air-in the diver is compressed sufficiently to make the specific gravity of the diver greater than that of the liquid in which it is immersed, causing it to sink to the bottom of the container.

It is the object of my invention to provide a puzzle toy, employing the principle of the Cartesian div-er, which will be entertaining, interesting, amusing, and which will require skill and ingenuity for its operation.

It is a further object to provide an improved toy of this type which is simple in construction and may be economically manufactured.

A further object is to provide an improved means for excluding air from the container.

A further object is to provide a simple maze through which the diver is adapted to be directed.

A further object is to provide an improved 5 diver which will rotate and have irregular movements imparted to it as an incident to its vertical travel.

Other obj ects will appear from the follow- 40 ing description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the container, a portion thereof being broken away to show the maze;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof in which portions of the gasket and cover are broken away;

Fig. 3 is a central vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the diver with the Serial No. 301,811.

, portion 12 which constitutes in effect a movable container wall. The cover has a small air vent aperture 14 adjacent its edge. This to aperture is normally closed by an annular gasket 16 which prevents leakage between the cover and jar.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, a maze designated generally as 18 is preferably stamped 7 from a single sheet 19 of thin metal, celluloid, or other suitable material, or molded out of hard rubber or its substitutes. A plurality of prongs or fingers 20 are punched from the sheet and bent so as to project substantially vertically from the sheet. Other prongs 22 are punched from the sheet in a similar manner but are bent at an angle of approximately 15 to the plane of the sheet. The prongs 20 and 22 are preferably arranged in vertical alignment, the prongs 22 being disposed in pairs so as to form a barrier across the vertical channels formed between the prongs 20. Two relatively large openings 24 and 26 are formed in the sheet 19, the removed portions of the sheet being bent back to form bafiles 28 and 30. One side of the sheet is bent outwardly to form a wall 31 extending nearly the full height of the sheet. A pair of ears 32 formed at one side of the sheet 19 are adapted to project into slots 31 at the other side of the sheet.

The sheet 19, formed as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, is bent into cylindrical shape and the ears 82 passed through their corresponding slots 34 and bent over. 7

As illustrated in Fig. 4, a thin walled hollow acorn shaped diver 36 is provided with a pair of warped fins 38. The diver may be made of rubber, celluloid or any other matemost prongs 20, limits upward movement of the diver.

The maze 18 and diver 36 are placed in the jar and the jar filled with a suitable liquid, ordinarily and herein assumed to be water. This may best be accomplished by totally immersing the jar in water and screwing on the cover under water. If, however, this method is not practicable, the jar may be filled brimful with water and the cap screwed down while holding the jar in such a position that practically all of the air will be forced out through the vent 14. When the cover is completely screwed down the vent will be sealed b the gasket 16.

Theobject or the puzzle toy is to make the diver travel through the maze without tilting or inverting the jar. This may of course be done by manually applying pressure to the bulge 12 in the cover 10. Since there is no air in the jar, or at most only a minute quantity, this pressure will be transmitted undiminished to the diver, and by slight flexure and compression of the wall of the diver, to the air within, compressing the air and thus increasing the specific gravity of the diver until it is greater than 1.00 when the diver will descend. During the descent (and subsequent ascent) of the diver, "the fins 38 will cause the diver to rotate, and if one of the fins is longer than the other, cause the diver to follow a helical downward path. The diver may be made to move laterally by rotating the jar, and thus pass through the openings between the barriers formed by the prongs and 22.

The path through the maze is indicated by the arrows and dotted line 42 in Fig. 5, the start and home position being within the central well 44 (Fig. 2) which communicates with the maze proper through the openings 24 and 26. The various openings formed in the sheet make it possible to see the diver when it is within the well and permit relatively free agitation of the water when the jar is moved.

The intricacy of the puzzle may be increased by using a plurality of divers, operating within a single maze, or operatingin a number of separate mazes. When a plurality of divers are used they are preferably made to contain difierent volumes of air so that,

upon an application of a given liquid pressure, their speclfic gravities will vary diflercnt degrees, with the result that (assuming other conditions to be unchanged) the divers will have different velocities of descent and ascent. Other conditions, such as a change of the material of the diver, a variation of the thickness (and therefore resiliency) of the walls of the diver, use of difierent ballast, or change of shape, may be used to accomplish the same result; that is, cause the several divers in the same ar to descend and ascend at different speeds. Fig. 4a shows a diver comprising a body 3661/. having fins 38a and a ballast a. It will be noted that this diver .has a larger volume of air, its walls are thinner, and it will thus descend at a rate different from the diver shown in Fig. 4.

If desired the diver may be made of different shape and color in simulation of deep sea divers, mermaids, bathing girls, fish and similar figures, and the maze decorated by decalcomania transfer or otherwise to form a harmonious background for the particular figure used. The design, shape and general characteristics of the maze may be varied greatly as desired. Likewise the container may be in practically any desired shape, one shape in particular being very advantageous, namely, that of a sphere. When using a spherical container the maze may be made spherical and placed so as to be concentric with the container.

It is also within the broadest scope of my invention to provide, a maze in a liquid container, utilizing a buoyant object in place of the Cartesian diver. In such modified structure the container will be tilted to cause the buoyant object to follow the path of the maze.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications and varia tions of my invention may be made without departing from the basic principles thereof.

I claim:

1. In combination, a sealed container, a liquid therein, a one piece three dimensional maze within said container, and a Cartesian diver adapted to be moved through said maze.

2. A toy comprising a closed container filled with a liquid, a plurality of Cartesian divers therein, said divers having different speeds of movement when subjected to the same pressure, and a maze channeled to permit passage of said divers.

8. A toy comprising a container substantially filled with a liquid, an element buoyant with respect to said liquid, and a maze confined in said container and having a passageway for said element.

4. A puzzle toy comprising a closed liquid container having a manually movable wall, a maze in said container, and a Cartesian diver within said container and adapted to travel through said maze.

5. In combination, a closed container, a liquid therein, a three-dimensional maze within said container, and a Cartesian diver adapted to be moved through said maze, said diver having external inclined fins formed thereon, whereby said diver Will be moved in a direction other than the vertical as an incident to its vertical movement through the liquid.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 22nd day of August, 1928.

BENJAMIN F. WUPPER.

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