US2550065A - Climbing toy - Google Patents

Description

A ril 24, 1951 R. K. HALLUM 2,550,065

CLIMBING TOY Filed July 17, 1947 Robert K, Hal/um swoon tom Patented Apr. 24, 1951 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in toys.

The invention deals particularly with string actuated toys of the type wherein a figure or other object is caused to climb or descend a vertical length of string or cord, apparently without any effort or aid on the part of the user or operator of the toy.

One object of the invention is to provide a toy including a figurine suitably mounted upon a vertically stretched cord and adapted to descend the cord in a series of steps under the action and operation of the components of said figurine.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a toy, of the character described, which will' An important object of the invention is to provide an improved toy having a suitable cord or other elongate flexible element upon which a suitable weighted figurine is flexibly and movably mounted with provision being made so that the operator of the toy may cause the figurine to move upwardly along the cord or downwardly therealong, the direction of movement and the change 2.

of direction of movement being affected at any time and at any point or place along the cord and entirely at the will of the operator. 3

A construction designed to carr out the in vention will be hereinafter described together with other features of the invention.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein an example of the invention is shown, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a toy, constructed in accordance with the invention, and showing the several positions of the figurine in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view, in side elevation, of the mounting means for connecting the figurine to the cord,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation, illus- 2 trating the operation of the toy when ascending the cord,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation, illustrating the operation of the toy when descending the cord, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken immediately above the lower loop illustrating the movement of the supporting card within the loop.

In the drawing, the numeral l0 designates an elongate cord or string, or other suitable elongate, flexible member in the nature of a cord, such as a small, flexible, metallic cable, which may be usable in connection with the present invention. The cord it! carries a loop H at its upper end, said loop being suitable for the reception of the finger or several fingers of the hand A of the operator of the toy. A similar, somewhat larger, loop I2 is provided at the lower extremity of the cord and is adapted to receive the toe or foot B of the user of the toy.

A suitable weight or figurine l3, which may be in the nature of a doll as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, or which may be a reproduction of any other desired object, such as a small animal ora geometrical figure, is adapted to be secured or connected to the cord I0. For the purposes of simplicity, the figurine l3 has been replaced in Figs. 2 through 4 by a ball or sphere I3! However, it is to be kept in mind that an type of figure or object may be employed so long asit possesses the necessary mass or weight.

The figurine is secured to the outer end of an elongate, straight, spring rod or wire M,fthe wire being of a resilient nature and formed preferably of a spring material such as high carbon steel. A ring or loop I5 is formed upon the inner end of the wire [4 and is preferably oval-shaped with its longer dimension in alinement with the longitudinal axis of the wire l4 so that the loop in effect forms a continuation of said wire. The plane of the loop I5 is at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the wire l4 so that when said loop is in a horizontal plane, as shown in Fig. 2, the wire 14 projects laterallyand slightly upwardly therefrom.

The loop l 5 carries a vertically-extending connecting wire or bar I6 projecting thereabove, the upper end of the wire being formed into a ring helical coil l1 somewhat less in cross-sectional area than said loop. Of course, if desired, the coil H, the wire Hi, the loop l5, and the wire l4 may all be formed from one single piece of spring wire so as to simplify and reduce the cost of the manufacture of the device. Such is the preferred form of the invention, but it, is to be kept in mind that this mounting structure may be fabricated from a number of separate elements or pieces of wire secured or fastened together by suitable means, such as welding or brazing, or in some other suitable fashion.

The cord 10 extends through the coil l1 and also through the loop IE, it being pointed out that the wire from which this mounting structure is formed is preferably of somewhat smaller diameter than the cord In so as to be capable of engaging the cord with a considerable degree of friction. Obviously, if the wire from which the mounting structure is formed is too large in diameter, or if the cord 10 is quite inflexible in nature, the desired frictional engagement will not be obtained and the operation of the toy, to be described hereinafter, will be considerably impaired.

In the operation of the toy, the cord In is stretched in a taut manner between the foot B and the hand A of the user or operator of the toy. The figurine l3 may be assumed to be positioned somewhere near the central portion of the cord being con e t d e o y m ns of th coil 11 and the loop I501" the wire 14, the outer end of which carries said figurine. Due to the considerable mass of the figurine and the resilient or spring-like nature of the wire M, as well as the length of the latter, the figurine may be caused to commence vibratory movement in a Vertical plane by suitable lifting or depression of the figurine to deflect and bend the spring wire 14, which, upon release, in attempting to return to its straightened position, will start the figurine swinging in a vertical arc in the manner of a pendulum. Even without the influence of forces tending to continue this vibratory movement, the figurine will continue to oscillate in a .vertical re era cons a e ri d bec u e i i s. mas and the spring nature of the wire [4, as described h re n eferes ho in 2 h v or e ga hap of the loop l will allow the cord in, in effect, to

move from one end of said loop to the other as illustrated by the full and dotted line positions of said cord. It is this relative movement of the cord back and forth within the loop [5 which causes thetoy to either ascend or descend the cord [0. Also th coil and loop and their connecting wire or bar may be formed of a single element having a tapered bore or passage. In effect such a passage is formed by the coil, loop an b r- In"Eig. 3 is illustrated the operation of the toy in ascending the cord, the figurine l3 being replaced by the ball or sphere l3 for the purposes of simplicity. The full line illustration of the t n his view ws th s n f. th all 13 as i n a s t center f its downwar swing. At this point, the cord I0 is substantially' in the center of the loop I5 so that the ends of said "loop are not frictionally engaging the cord. However, due to the considerable mass of the ball IS with respect to the mass of the relatively light wire I4 and loop and coil structures I5 and I1, there is very little tendency for the loop to move downwardly with respect to the cord during such downward movement of said ball. The ball passes fairly quickly to its lower-' most position wherein the left-hand end of the loop, as viewed in Fig. 3, frictionally engages the cord and prevents movementof the loop with respectthereto. This frictional engagement also inner end of the wire I and halts the downward swing of the ball I3. Being placed under a bending stress, the wire i4 causes the ball to commence its swing upward to its uppermost position as shown in dotted lines.

To cause the toy to ascend the cord, the operator allows said cord to slack a bit as the ball l3, or the figure I3, reaches its lowermost point of swing. As soon as the ball starts to swing upwardly, the cord is suddenly tightened by the operator so as to snap. the wire IE to an upright position and give added impetus to the ball l3 in its upward travel or swing. Being under the influence of this added momentum or impetus, the ball moves upwardly rather quickly and with considerable force. 7 In the course of its upward travel and as it reaches the position again represented by the full line illustration in Fig. 3, wherein the cord I0 is free to pass through the loop l5, the ball, because of its considerably larger mass, causes the loop to move upwardly along the cord to the dotted line position shown. As the ball continues its upward swing and forces the right-hand end of the loop into engagement w th the c rd. e upward m ve ent of he l op is halted and shortly thereafter the resilient force exerted by the wire l4 stops the upward swing of the ball. The dotted lines shown in Fig. 3 illustrate this position of the toy. The ball l3 then begins to drop both underthe force of gravity and the force exerted by the wire l4 and again passes to its lowermost position from which the operator ma cause the toy to rise a further distance-along the cord byan alternate slackening and tightening of; the cord. Thus, the operator of the toy may cause the figurine to apparently climb the cord it by a slight loosening or reducing of the tension placed upon the cord II) as the figurine reaches the lowermost point of its swing and by suddenly tightening or increasing the tension placed upon the cord I 0 as the figurine commences its upward swing,

To permit the figurine todescend the cord, the operator merely holds said cord under a reasonable degree of tension and allows the figurine to oscillate or vibrate upon the wire it. Thisoper ation is illustrated in Fig. 4, the solid line illustrations showing the position of the toy. upon the cord as the ball l3, rep-resenting the figurine I3, approaches or leaves the central portion of its swing. In this position, the cord is within the central portion of the loop and is not binding upon either end thereof. During the downward swing of the ball 13', there will be relatively. little movement of the loop with respect to the cord for the reasons set forth hereinbefo-re. However, the ball, in swinging upwardly, travels a little slower due to the fact that it is overcoming the force of gravity through theresilient nature of the wire M. In this slightly slower, upward travel, the ball, through its reluctance to move upwardly exerts a downwardly-directed force via the wire I4 upon the loop 15. Thus, as the ball nears its central position in its upward swing, the loop will be moved downwardly along the cord during the period of time beforerthe ball completes its upward swing and causes the right-hand side of the loop to friotionally engage and bind upon this cord, as shown in dotted lines i F g. 2. Having reached its upper position, the ball is stopped by the flexing of the wire M and caused to rever its direction of movement and begins its downward swing. In the downward swing, the ball displays very little tendency to cause the loop 15 to move downwardly since the force of gravity is aiding the ball in such downward movement. Conversely, the force of gravity impedes the upward movement of the ball so that such movement must be effected substantially solely by means of the wire 14, whereby a considerably greater tendency to cause the inner or looped end of the wire to move opposite the ball is displayed.

The operator of the toy may at will cause it to move downwardly along the cord by merely hold ing the cord in a taut position, or he may cause the toy to climb or ascend the cord by alternate slackening and tightening of the latter.

The foregoing description of the invention is explanatory thereof and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction may be made, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A toy including, an elongate flexible element in the nature of a cord adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a member having a vertical passage receiving the flexible element, said passage being larger at the lower end than the upper end, an elongate spring extending laterally from the member, and a weight secured to the outer end or" the spring, whereby the member is caused to ascend or descend on the flexible element upon manipulations of said element.

2. A toy including, an elongate flexible element in the nature of a cord adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a member having a vertical passage receiving the flexible element, aid passage being larger at the lower end than the upper end and being oval in outline at the lower end, an elongate spring extending laterally from the member, and a weight secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the member is caused to ascend or descend on the flexible element upon manipulations of said element.

3. A toy including, an elongate flexible element in the nature of a cord adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a member having a vertical passage receiving the flexible element, said passage being larger at the lower end than the upper end and being oval in outline at the lower end, an elongate spring extending laterally from the member, and a figurine secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the member is caused to ascend or descend on the flexible element upon manipulations of said element.

4. A toy including, an elongate cord-like ele-,

ment adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a bar disposed in substantially parallel relation with the element, a ring at the upper end of the bar encircling the element, a ring at the lower end of the bar encircling the element, the lower ring being larger than the upper ring, an elongate spring extending laterally from the bar and ring structure, and a weight secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the bar and its rings are caused to ascend or descend on the cord-like eleme -1 manipulations of said element.

5. A toy including, an elongate cord-like element adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a bar disposed in substantially parallel relation with the element, a ring at the 5 upper end of the bar encircling the element, a loop at the lower end of the bar encircling the element, said loop being oval in shape and larger than the ring, an elongate spring extending laterally from the bar and loop structure, and a weight secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the bar and loop structure is caused to ascend or descend on said cord-like element upon manipulation of said element.

6. A toy including, an elongate cord-like element adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a bar disposed in substantially parallel relation with the element, a ring at the upper end of the bar encircling the element, a loop at the lower end of the bar encircling the element, said loop being larger than the ring, an elongate spring extending laterally and slightly upwardly from the bar and loop structure, and a weight secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the bar and loop structure is caused to ascend or descend on said cord-like element upon manipulations of said element.

7. A toy including, an elongate cord-like element adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a wire disposed in substantially end of the wire being formed into a coil encircling the element, the lower end of the wire being formed into a loop encircling the element, an elongate spring extending laterally from the loop, and a weight secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the coil is caused to ascend or descend on the cord-like element upon manipulations of said element.

8. A toy including, an elongate cord-like element adapted to be held taut in a substantially vertical position, a wire disposed in substantially parallel relation with the element, the upper end of the wire being formed into a coil encircling the element, the lower end of the wire being formed into an oval loop encircling the element,

an elongate spring extending laterally and slightly upwardly from the loop, the longitudinal axis of the spring being approximately parallel to the longer dimension of the oval loop, the spring, the loop, the wire and the coil being formed from one piece of sprin wire, and a figurine secured to the outer end of the spring, whereby the coil is caused to ascend or descend on the cord-like element upon manipulations of said element.

9. A toy as set forth in claim 4 wherein the bar is substantially shorter than the spring.

ROBERT Kl HALLUM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS parallel relation with the element, the upper

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