US20110053454A1

US20110053454A1 - Decorative toy

Info

Publication number: US20110053454A1
Application number: US12/547,228
Authority: US
Inventors: Yen-Shao Hsu
Original assignee: CHI DA TOYS ENTERPRISES (HK) Ltd
Current assignee: CHI DA TOYS ENTERPRISES (HK) Ltd
Priority date: 2009-08-25
Filing date: 2009-08-25
Publication date: 2011-03-03

Abstract

A decorative toy is provided. The decorative toy comprises a housing, a magnetic device and a driving device which are disposed in the housing, wherein a magnetic ornament is disposed on the housing; the magnetic device has a fixing base and a magnet pivotally connected to the fixing base via a revolving shaft; and the driving device has a mechanical-winding spring motor and a plurality of intermeshed gears for transmitting a driving force from the spring motor to the revolving shaft to rotate the magnet and vary the magnetic field generated by the magnet, thereby making the magnetic ornament on the housing rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a decorative toy, particularly, to a decorative toy using a spring motor to drive a cylinder and a magnet device for producing music and enabling a magnetic ornament placed on the housing to perform various movement patterns simultaneously.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A conventional music box is provided with a spring driven mechanism or an electrically driven mechanism to rotate a revolving shaft of a cylinder. The cylinder is studded with a plurality of pins, and the pins on the cylinder are arranged in a predetermined array that plucks resilient turned prongs of a musical comb as the cylinder rotates to provide specific chosen melodies. To attain better effects of entertainment, the revolving shaft which is used in some musical boxes in the market is connected to a driven gear set for transmitting a driving force from the cylinder to a ornament, such as a doll, on the upper part of the musical box which is in synchronization with the music.
However, the conventional musical boxes mentioned above can merely attract visual attention by the aesthetically pleasing appearance. Furthermore, the movement of ornaments on the musical boxes is limited, usually to uniform vertical and swiveling movement due to the simple structure of driven gear set. If more complicated and fascinating motions of the ornament are desired, the musical box will require more elaborate components and a complicated structure so that the manufacturing time and cost will be substantially increased.
In order to overcome the foregoing shortcomings and problems, after hard research and development, a decorative toy that substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art is provided by the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a decorative toy comprising a mechanical-winding spring motor and a plurality of intermeshed gears for transmitting a driving force from a spring motor to a revolving shaft to rotate the magnet and vary the magnetic field which is generated by the magnet, thereby making the magnetic ornament on the housing rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a decorative toy having a spring motor to drive a cylinder of a musical box and a driven gear set simultaneously, wherein the driven gear set is connected to a revolving shaft of a magnetic device for rotating a magnet of the magnetic device in synchronization with the rotation of the cylinder, thereby making a magnetic ornament on the housing of the decorative toy rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the decorative toy according to the present invention comprises a housing, a magnetic device and a driving device which are disposed in the housing. A magnetic ornament is disposed on the housing. The magnetic device has a fixing base and a magnet pivotally connected to the fixing base via a revolving shaft. The driving device has a mechanical-winding spring motor and a plurality of intermeshed gears for transmitting a driving force from the spring motor to the revolving shaft to rotate the magnet and vary the magnetic field generated by the magnet, thereby making the magnetic ornament on the housing rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field.
In practice, the driving device is an instrument used for a musical box, and the instrument includes a cylinder studded with a plurality of pins and a musical comb for producing music while the spring motor rotates the cylinder when pins of the cylinder pluck the comb. One end of the revolving shaft is connected to a rotating gear. A cylinder shaft of the cylinder axially extends and connects to a passive gear. The rotating gear and the passive gear are interconnected via a driven gear set to rotate the magnet for varying the magnetic field generated by the magnet.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a decorative toy before assembling of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a decorative toy after assembling of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the state before engaging the passive gear and one end of the driven gear set of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the rotation of the magnet driven by a driving force transmitted from the spring motor of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the state that a magnetic ornament disposed on the housing of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a decorative toy of an embodiment of the present invention are illustrated, wherein the decorative toy comprises a hollow housing 1, a magnetic device 2 and a driving device 3 which are disposed in the housing 1.
The magnetic device 2 includes a fixing base 21, a permanent magnet 22, and a fixing frame 23 for disposing the magnet 22. Two sides of the fixing frame 23 are pivotally connected to the fixing base 21 via a revolving shaft 24 separately, and one of the revolving shafts 24 is connected to a rotating gear 25.
The driving device 3 is an instrument used for a musical box. The instrument includes a mechanical-winding spring motor 31, a cylinder 32 studded with a plurality of pins 321, a musical comb 33, and a plurality of intermeshed gears 34. The gears 34 includes a passive gear 341 and a driven gear set 342. The spring motor 31 drives and rotates the cylinder 32 by a cylinder shaft 311 passing through the cylinder 32. Thus, when the spring motor 31 rotates the cylinder 32, the pins 321 of the cylinder 32 can pluck the musical comb 33 and produce music according to the arrangement of the pins thereon. Further, the cylinder shaft 311 axially extends and connects to the passive gear 341, and the driven gear set 342 is pivotally mounted to a fixing plate 4 and intermeshed with the passive gear 341 and the rotating gear 25 separately via the gears on both ends thereof, such that the revolving shafts 24 are driven and rotates the fixing frame 23 and the magnet 22 inside the fixing frame 23 (as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4).
In practice, the spring motor 31 of the driving device 3 has a winding shaft 312, and the winding shaft 312 extends outward the housing 1 for winding up the winding shaft 312 to make the spring motor 31 drive the rotation of the cylinder 32, and thereby plucking the musical comb 33 with the pins 321 on the surface of the cylinder 32 to produce music; meanwhile, the passive gear 341 drives the driven gear set 342 by the rotation of the cylinder 32, and thus rotates the magnet 22 inside the fixing frame 23 by driving force transmitted from the rotating gear 25 and the revolving shafts 24.
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a magnetic ornament 5 such as a toy fish freely suspended in a water ball is movably disposed on the housing 1. When the spring motor 31 is wound up by the winding shaft 312 to make the musical comb 33 to produce music and rotate the magnet 22 simultaneously, the toy fish in the water ball may rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field.
Therefore, the present invention has the following advantages:
1. The present invention can rotates the magnet to vary the magnetic field by a driving force transmitted from the spring motor via gears, and the rotation of magnet is in synchronization with the melody being played by the instrument to create irregular motions of the toy fish and raise its visual effects.
2. The magnetic ornament of the present invention can be any animal or any object which can move freely on the housing, and the outer appearance of the housing can also be shaped corresponding to the animal or object, thereby enhancing creativity, practicability, and the commercial value of the present invention.
3. The structure of the present invention is simple which can facilitate assembling and reduce manufacturing time and cost.
As stated in the above disclosed, the present invention can surely achieve its expected objects to provide a decorative toy utilizing an existing instrument used in a musical box to enable a magnetic ornament to have various motions in synchronization with the music, and further enhance the entertainment effects and product value of the decorative toy.
It should be understood that different modifications and variations could be made from the disclosures of the present invention by the people familiar in the art without departing the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A decorative toy, comprising

a housing for a magnetic ornament to be disposed thereon;

a magnetic device disposed in the housing, the magnetic device having a fixing base and a magnet pivotally connected to the fixing base via a revolving shaft;

a driving device disposed in the housing, the driving device having a mechanical-winding spring motor and a plurality of intermeshed gears for transmitting a driving force from the spring motor to the revolving shaft to rotate the magnet and vary the magnetic field generated by the magnet, thereby making the magnetic ornament on the housing rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field.

2. The decorative toy according to claim 1, wherein the driving device is an instrument used for a musical box, and the instrument includes a cylinder studded with a plurality of pins and a musical comb for producing music while the spring motor rotates the cylinder and makes pins of the cylinder pluck the musical comb.

3. The decorative toy according to claim 2, wherein one end of the revolving shaft is connected to a rotating gear, and a cylinder shaft of the cylinder axially extends and connects to a passive gear, and the rotating gear and the passive gear are interconnected via a driven gear set.

4. The decorative toy according to claim 3, wherein the driven gear set is pivotally mounted to a fixing plate.

5. The decorative toy according to claim 2, wherein the spring motor of the driving device is disposed with a winding shaft extending outward the housing.

6. The decorative toy according to claim 2, wherein the magnetic device includes a fixing frame for disposing the magnet, and both ends of the fixing frame are pivotally connected to the fixing base via a revolving shaft separately, and one of the revolving shafts is connected to the rotating gear.