US2586938A - Leaping figure toy - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 26, 1952 J. P. GOWLAND LEAPING FIGURE TOY Filed April 5, 1948 Inventor John P Gawla'nfl 9/8214 IM F Patented Feb. 26, 1952 UNITED STATES OFFICE Application April 5, 1948;. Serial-No. 19,042= InGreatBritain April:.8, ..194 71 Cl ims;- (01. 4 mm This invention provides a toy or amusement device comprising a toy figure constructed with a body which is articulated to supporting means such as a leg structure and is normally held by spring or like means in a. raised or erect position with respect to its supporting means; and which is movable pivotally with respect to the supporting means against the action of the spring orlike means into a lowered position from which it is returnable to its normal raised position under the action of the spring or like means by the releasing, of means provided for holding it in the lowered position. The device may be constructed to permit or cause the figure to resume its normal position with an abrupt action.

A sound-producing device, e. g., of the reed type operated by a bellows, may be provided in the figure and arranged to be operated to emit sound upon movement of the body, for instance, as-it resumes its normal position A manual control device may be provided for actuating the figure, e. g., at a distance, andsuch device may be arranged for controlling both the lowering and raising movements of the figure. The figure may be mounted on wheels or be otherwise adapted to be hauled or pushed along the ground or some other supporting surface, and may be provided with a lead or handle: for hauling or pushing it and also with a control member such as a rod, wire, cord or the like, which extends from the. lead or handle and is attached to the actuating mechanism of the. figure. Such a lead may comprise a Bowden. cable or similar device having; a sheath which is attachedto the toy for hauling it and within which extends a control wire, cord or like member. for controlling the articulating movement of the figure An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows in perspective a mock animal fig.- ure representing a dog in a normal position standing on its feet;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal half-sectionof the fig.- ure in the standing position;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing.

the figure in a sitting position;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 4..4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal section showing a modification.

In the illustrated embodiment,.the' quadrup ed.-

mock animal figure has a body I0 to which is ate tached a e a ead H. t il 4 and less It.

h latter. bein fi t d i h Wheels. o ro ler Mi These a ts of e fi ure maybe QQWPQS-fifl st any suitable material, such as a plastic. The body, head and legs are shown as being made as hollow mouldings. the body It and the head ll being each formed of a mating pair of shell halfsections (those of the body being seen at c, Nib in Fig. 4) which are united in any convenient manner, for example, by means of adhesive, the halt-sections being preferably formed with complementary pips and recesses in their mating faces to locate the halfesections in registry when assembling and uniting them together. The four legs 13 are pivoted to the body l0 in any convenient manner such as by a pin l6 (Fig 4) on each leg pivoting in a socket I! in the body, and the pair of forelegs are tied together by a crossbar l8 arranged at a convenient position below and to the rear of. the pivot axis 16 of the forelegs, the pair of hind legs being similarly tied by a similarly positioned crossbar l9, and the two crossbars I8, 19 being tied together by a longitudinalbar 20 housed in the hollow body H3 and having curved. ends 20a, 206 which project through apertures lilo, llld at the underside of the body I!) to reach the cross bars l3 and 19. 'A tension. spring 2! housed in the body ID is anchored at its rear end to a convenient anchorage such as an eye 22 formedin the body, and the forward end of'the spring 21 is anchored to the longitudinal bar 20, the spring'being under tension so that the pull it exerts on the tie bar structure l8, I9, 20' causes the four legs l3. normally to be urged rearwardly with respect to the body H), the latter being formed with abutment stop means 4! limiting the relative rearward movementof the legs so that the latter are normally held in. a standing position in relation to the body, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The head H has a stem portion 23 positioned in a socket 24 in the'neck portion 25 of the body II), this socket being. sufficiently larger than'the stem 23 to permit pivotal movement of the head Ii ona crosspin 28 mountedinthe neck portion 25. As shown, the head H has a pair of members representing ears, one of which is'seen at 21, which are. freely pivoted to the head as at 28 so that these. ear members may swing relatively to the headas the latter is pivotally moved up and down on its pin 26. The head II is operatively connected to the longitudinal bar 20 by an attached flexible cord, wire or like member 29 extending through the. body IO- between the bar 20-and an anchorage point30 on the head above its-pivot pin 26, so thatthe weight of the head, whichliesforwardly of thepin 26, maintains the flex ble, member,- Zik t nt and? the: at er holdsthe head erect, as seen in Fig. 2. The member 29 is, of course, also tensioned by the spring 2| acting through the bar 20.

The tail I2 is attached to a cord, wire or like flexible member 3|, the tension of which is controlled by the bar 20. In one arrangement, as shown, the tail cord or the like 3| is attached directly to the bar 20 so that in the normal position of the figure as seen in Fig. 2, the member 3| is relieved of tension and is slack, allowing the tail to han in a position determined by the amount of slack in the cord. The tail l2 may consist, as shown, of a flexible tubular member 32 (or a succession of bead elements) and rounded rigid end pieces 33 through which the cord 3| is passed or threaded and attached at its outer end to the outer end element 33 of the tail structure.

Attached to the front of the body I is a leash 34 consisting of an outer flexible sheath 35 within which extends an inner flexible control cord, wire or like member 36 which passes into the body l0 and is attached to the longitudinal bar 2|). The outer end of the leash 34 is terminated by a suitable handle 3'5 attached to the sheath 35 and the corresponding end of the inner control member 36 is attached to a suitable element, shown as a ring 38, providing a fingerhold or trigger which may readily be engaged and pulled by a finger of a hand gripping the handle 31. Such a pull on the inner member 35 to overcome the opposite pull of the spring 2| will draw the longitudinal bar 20 forwardly, the movement of which causes the legs l3 of the figure to move forwardly relatively to its body l0 so that the figure sinks and assumes a sitting position, as shown in Fig. 3. As also shown in Fig. 3, such forward movement of the bar 20 will also relieve the tension, due to the spring 2|, on the element 29, thus allowing the head II to fall forwardly about its pivot 26. Also, the forward movement of the bar 28 will pull the tail member 3| and, if this member is made of a suitable length, this action will have the effect of tautening and tensioning the member 3| to raise the tail |2 erect. Releasing the control member 36 allows the spring 2| to come into play and restore the parts to the normal position shown in Fig. 2, and if the control member 36 is released abruptly, the momentarily violent pull exerted by the spring 2| on the various parts of the figure would cause it to jump to its feet. If desired, the handle 31 of the leash may be provided with some suitable catch (not shown) for releasably locking the element 38 when pulled out, so that the figure may be kept in the sitting position without the operator having to maintain hold of the ring 38, or even of the leash at all.

It will be evident that the foregoing describes but one example of the various ways in which the head II and tail l2 may be connected to the actuating bar 20, and that the connection and actuation of the head and tail may be modified or varied as desired. For example, in a modification as shown in Fig. 5, in which corresponding parts to those shown in Fig. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals with the suflix a, a reverse movement of the head H from that described in the foregoing may be arranged by substituting, for the flexible head control member 29 shown in Fig. 2, a rigid arm 39 attached to or formed as an extension of the longitudinal bar 20, this arm engaging against the stem portion 23a of the head Ila at a point below-the head pivot 26a, and being arranged so that in the normal position of the parts as shown in Fig. 5, corresponding to the standing position of the figure, the head Ha is in a lowered position, supported by the engagement of the arm 39 and stem 23a. Thus, when the control member 36 is pulled to cause the figure to sink to a sitting position in the manner described in the foregoing, the arm 39 moves forwardly with the bar 20, and causes the head Ha to rise about its pivot 26.41.

In one'arrangement, for example, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, one end of the bellows 40 of such a sound-producing device may be fixed to the body I, the other end being attached to one of the movable parts of the figure, e. g., to the stem 23 of the head H as shown, so that the device is actuated to emit sound upon movement of the movable part to which it is attached. The bellows may be arranged so that sound, simulating a bark, is emitted when the control member 36 is released to cause the figure to jump to its feet. For this purpose, the bellows may be arranged so as to be expanded when the figure is actuated to cause it to assume a sitting position as shown in Fig. 3, so that the bellows is compressed and causes the production of the sound when the control member is released.

In analogous fashion any other toy legged figure such as a two-legged figure may be constructed with its body pivoted to its leg structure and with spring or like means acting between the body and leg'structure so as to hold the figure normally in a standing position, and controlled by a manual control device or" the Bowden or similar type to eiiect relative pivotal movement of the leg structure forwardly with respect to the body, causing the figure to assume a sitting position, in which it may be held by the control device until the latter is released, allowing the figure to resume its standing position under the action of its spring or like means.

I claim:

1. A toy representing a quadruped figure, said toy including a hollow body, a pair of forelegs and a pair of hind legs pivoted to the body and means for operating said legs consisting of a bar, a, resilient connector and sheath-and-core type flexible actuating means, said bar being pivotally attached near one end to said forelegs and near the other end to said hind legs at points removed irom those at which the legs are attached to the body, said bar being connected to one end of said body by means of said resilient connector, the sheath of said flexible actuating means being attached to said body with its core extending through said body and attached to said bar, whereby outward displacement of said core relative to said sheath will cause said bar to move relatively to said body against the urge of said resilient connector and thereby operate said legs.

2. A toy as claimed in claim 1 in which said body carries stop means with which said resilient connector cooperates to hold said legs in a normally erect position, and in which displacement of said core relative to said sheath against the urge of said resilient connector causes said legs to pivot toward said body, so that upon sudden release of said core said resilient connector will urge said legs sharply to an erect position to produce a jumping movement of the toy.

3. A toy as claimed in claim 2 in which each pair of legs is connected together by a horizontal rod, in which said body has an apertured underside, and in which said bar extends longitudinally within the body and has two depending ends extending downwardly through said apertured underside, one end being attached to each of said horizontal rods.

JOHN PINKNEY-GOWLAND.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Ritchel June 26, 1883 Phillips Aug. 27, 1889 Pressler Mar. 29, 1910 Coggon Feb. 3, 1931 Schelle et a1 Oct. 27, 1931 Jolly July 2, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France Sept. 20, 1927 Germany Apr. 25, 1919

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