US2752728A - Animated toy - Google Patents

Description

G. B. STARR ANIMATED TOY July 3, 1956 Filed Jan. 25, 1954 INVENTOR. George 5. S70

ite States Patent L ANHVIATED' TOY George B. Starr, Sausalito, Calif. Application January 25, 1954, Serial No.'=;406,015 2 Claims. (Cl. 46-92) This invention relates to improvements in animated toys and has particular reference to a toy figure which will simulate the movements of a person paddling a canoe, wherein the hands and arms are attached to a paddle and are moved in such a manner as to cause the free end of the paddle to move in a vertical path, forming an ellipse, the top of which is substantially flat.

A further object of this invention is to produce a toy which When positioned in a boat-like structure, such as a canoe, and animated, will cause the canoe to progress over the surface of a body of water.

A further object is to produce a device which is economical to manufacture and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numbers are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my toy;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the rowing stroke adjacent the side of the boat;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the mechanical linkage.

In producing my toy, I have provided a mechanical movement, which when positioned in a figure and completely hidden from view, will cause the arms of the figure to transfer two different motions to a paddle. These two motions produce a lifelike appearance to the toy when under motion.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 5 designates a boat, here shown as a canoe, having a thwart 6 upon which a figure sits. The figure in this instance is designated as a whole by the numeral 7, and has a right arm 8 and a left arm 9. The lower part of the left arm is designated by the numeral 11 and is secured to the upper portion 9 by a rubber elbow-shaped piece 12. The upper arm is pivoted to the body as will be later seen.

The left hand 13 is connected to the arm portion 11 by a universally yieldable wrist portion 14, this wrist portion being preferably of rubber to permit a universal movement, this left hand being fixedly attached to the top end of the paddle 17.

The right hand 16 is fixedly secured to the handle portion of the paddle 17, this being at about the middle portion of the paddle. This hand 16 is in turn pivoted to the arm 8 by a concealed pivot 15, which is in turn covered by a rubber wrist portion.

In order to move the hands and the paddle, I provide a motor 18, which drives a worm 19, which in turn drives a worm gear 21, which has a pair of opposed crank arms 22, one of which is shown in Fig. 3, it being understood that the other crank arm is 135 degrees removed.

The crank arms 22 are in turn connected by links 23 and 24 to cranks 26 and 27, respectively. The crank 26 is in turn connected to a shaft 28, which is in turn rigidly connected to the arm 8 so as to form an axis extend- 2,752,728 Patented July-:3, 1956 2 ing transversely'of theupperportion: of said. arm,-.-while the .crank 27 is connected; to a shaft29,-whichis'-in.turn rigidly connected to the arm 9 so. as to .formsannaxis extending transversely of the upper. portionofss aid. arm.

It will be observed from the: drawing:that.the.crank arms 22are slightly shorter than crank arms 26 and.-27 respectively. This slight difference in length prevents any possibility of jamming. .at thesextreme lends sof travel .of thislinkagen While the crankcarrns 22 movenin a circular path, the crank arms '26 and 27 oscillate, and therefore if they were of the same length as arms 22 they would tend to jam as they reached the extreme ends of travel, due to the fact that they would be in a straight line with crank arms 22. Links 23 and 24 are rigid and their lengths are equal.

It may be further pointed out that in assembly of the toy the angle between the crank arms 26 and a longitudinal axis taken through the upper portion of the arm 8 may be adjusted somewhat to achieve smooth operating action. This is also true of the angle between the crank arm 27 and the upper portion of the arm 9.

The angle between the tive to the common axis the right hand 16 and the paddle takes. an The left arm follows the lag and as the right arm reaches the rear of its stroke, the left arm lowers the paddle handle. The right arm then starts its return stroke while the left arm is down, and the paddle blade forwardly in a substantially flat path and then curves down to start its power stroke. The universal, and wrist of the left end of the paddle but to the material, size, shape and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims. Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. An animated toy comprising a boat having a paddle, a figure of a human body supported in the boat, including wrist member interconnecting said left hand and the associated lower arm portion, and means supported within the boat and operatively connected to the pivotal connections of the upper arm portions for swinging said right and left arms about the axis of said pivotal connections with the torso, said means including a rotatable crank having crank arms connected thereto in fixed 135 angular relationship, a crank arm rigidly conneccted to the pivot of each arm with said torso, and rigid links pivotally connecting the crank arms of said rotatable crank to the crank arms of the torso.

2. A toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein the universally yieldable elbow member and the yieldahle wrist 5 member are formed of rubber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,433,886 Gordon Oct. 31, 1922 10 2,060,619 Jacobson Nov. 10, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 131,027 France June 4, 1879

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