US2855714A

US2855714A - Smoke ring producing toy gun

Info

Publication number: US2855714A
Application number: US540680A
Authority: US
Inventors: William J Thomas
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1955-10-17
Filing date: 1955-10-17
Publication date: 1958-10-14
Anticipated expiration: 1975-10-14

Description

' Oct. 14, 1958 w. J. THOMAS ,855,

.' suoKE RING PRODUCING TOY Gun Filed Oct. 17. 1955 INV EN TOR.

United States Patent SMOKE RING PRODUCING TOY GUN William J. Thomas, Montebello, Calif. Application October 17, 1955, Serial No. 540,680

s Claims. (21. 42-57 This invention relates generally to toys and more particularly to a toy gun for producing smoke rings.

A primary object of the invention is the provision of a toy gun wherein smoke generated by the detonation of percussive caps within the gun casing may be ejected from the latter as smoke rings.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a toy gun of the class described wherein the caps are detonated within the gun casing and the smoke of the exploded caps is ejected from the casing in response to the actuation of exterior operating means.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a toy gun of the class described wherein the smoke ejecting means is operatively connected to the hammer of the cap firing mechanism for simultaneous operation thereof by depression of the trigger of the mechanism.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a toy gun of the class described which may be selectively operated to eject the smoke of previously detonated caps to produce a smoke ring or to simultaneously detonate a cap and produce a smoke ring.

Yet a further object of the invention is the provision of a toy gun of the class described embodying smoke ejecting means which is operative to seal off the interior of the gun casing from the smoke ring producing orifice after a smoke ring has been formed so as to preclude the escape of remaining smoke through the orifice.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a toy gun of the class described which is simple in construction, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and pleasing in appearance.

A better understanding of'the invention may be had from the following detailed description thereof taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present toy gun; I

Figure 2 is a section taken along line -22 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified form of a toy gun embodying the principles of this invention;

Figure 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a side elevation, in reduced scale, the gun illustrated in Figure 1..

Referring now to these drawings, and more particularly to Figure 1 thereof, the preferred form of the present toy gun comprises a hollow casing of plastic or other suitable material. Casing 10 is formed to provide a depending hand grip 11 from the forward edge of which extends a trigger guard 12 defined with the casing 10 and hand grip 11 a finger-receiving opening 13.

The under side of casing 10 is slotted at 14, in communication with the finger-receiving opening 13, for receiving the trigger 15 of a cap firing mechanism, generally Patent No. 2,085,412, dated June 29, 1937, and entitled, Repeating Toy Pistol. This illustrated mechanism comprises a trigger plate 17 which is pivoted at 18 between the side walls of casing 10 and on which is formed the trigger 15. Rearward depression of the trigger 15 operates, in the manner described in the aforementioned patent, to advance a strip of caps, of the percussive type, from a supply roll 20, past an anvil 21 fixed to the casing 10, and to operate a hammer 22 into impact with the anvil 21 to explode, one of the caps in the strip 19. The hammer 22 is carried intermediate the'ends of an arm 23 which is pivoted between the side walls of hand grip 11 about an axis 24.

The other end of lever 23 is connected by a pin and slOt connection 25 to the rear end of a rod 26 which mounts a disk-shaped plunger head 27 at its forward end. Casing 10 is partitioned into a forward compartment or chamber 28 and an after compartment or chamber 29 by the plunger head 27. An intermediate transverse wall 30 of the casing is centrally apertured at 31 for sli'dably receiving the forward end of the rod 26. The after end of rod 26 is slidably guided in a lateral extension'32 of the casing 10 so that the rod 26 and plunger head 27 are mounted for axial sliding movement in the casing.

The forward end of the casing is defined by an etilarged conical wall portion 33 which is joined with the rear Wall portion of the casing by a conical wall 34 whose outer surface is annularly stepped, as indicated at 35, to lend a futuristic appearance to the gun. Forward chamber 28 is communicated with the after chamber 29 by a series of annularly arranged apertures 36 in the transverse wall 30.

The smaller diameter of conical wall portion 33 is at the forward end thereof and the latter wall portion is continued at its forward end in a conical wall portion 37 of increased angularity defining a relatively thin edged, circular orifice 38. It will be obvious that the expression thin-edged, as used herein, refers to the small axial dimension or edge thickness of the orifice, as,

compared to the diameter of the orifice. The external surface of conical Wall portion 37 may be annularly stepped, as indicated, at 39 for the same reasons set forth with reference to conical Wall 34.

The diameter of plunger head 27 is somewhat less than the larger diameter of conical wall 33 so that when the plunger head is in its retracted position, illustrated in solid lines in Figure 1, the periphery of said head will be radially spaced somewhat from the wall 33. The diameterof the head 27 is, however, somewhat less than the forward diameter of the conical wall 33 so that when the plunger head '27 is in its normal forward position, illustrated in phantom lines, in Figure l, the periphery of the head will sealing ly engage the conical wall 33.

To permit the loading of caps into the gun, the after end of the casing 10 and hand grip 11 may have a portion of their side wall cut away to provide a side opening 40 indicated in dotted lines in Figure 5, which opening is sealed by a removable closure 41. Closure 41 may be retained in position on the casing 10 as, for example, by being formed with detents 42 which snap over the cover 41 when the latter is pressed against the casing. To improve the realistic appearance of the present gun, the latter may, if desired, be formed of a pair of

sights

43 and 44.

In the operation of the gun of Figure 1, trigger 15 is depressed to cause, in the same manner described in said 22 into impact with the anvil 21 to fire the alined one of the caps inthe cap strip 19. This rearward and forward movement of the lever 23 is transmitted to the shaft 26 and plunger head 27 through the pin and slot connection 25 so that the plunger head 27 will be moved from its normal, phantom line position in Figure 1 to its retracted solid line position and, upon release of the lever 23, will return to its phantom line position. Trigger 15 is thus actuated one or more times in rapid succession, depending on the amount of smoke generated by the firing of each cap, to provide an accumulation of smoke within the after chamber 29. A portion of this smoke is displaced by rearward movement of plunger disk 27 and flows, through the apertures 36 in the transverse wall 30, into the forward chamber 28 between the conical wall 33 and the edge of disk 27 when the latter is in its retracted position. As the disk 27 is returned to its normal position, upon movement of the hammer 22 into impact with the anvil 21, the smoke which has passed to the forward side of the disk 27 is expelled by the latter, during its forward movement, through the orifice 38 to form a smoke ring R.

The mechanics of forming smoke rings are well understood and are explained in numerous texts on physics and fluid dynamics. The manner in which smoke rings are formed by the present toy gun may be briefly explained as follows. Sudden forward movement of the disc or plunger initially compresses the smoke immediately in front of the plunger and produces a Wave front which moves toward the orifice. Upon the wave front reaching the orifice, the new compressed smoke in the casing issues through the orifice in the forming of a puff. The forward surface separating the moving mass of compressed smoke behind the wave front from the relatively still smoke and/or air ahead of the wave front is commonly referred to as the surface of discontinu ity. When this surfaceof discontinuity reachesthe orifice, it is, in eifect, rolled up by the circular edge thereof to form a vortex ring which is propagated outwardly through the orificeto form a smoke ring.

The caps for use in the present gun may be of the type commonly employed in toy cap guns ormay be of the caps in strip 65. Indicated at 71, is a leaf spring fixed at its forward end to the rod 60 and having its after end bent laterally outwardfromthe rod. This leaf spring 71 is adapted, upon the above described rearward operation of the rod 60, to frictionally engage the cap strip 65 to feed the latterpast the anvil 64 and aline the next following one of the caps in the strip 65. with the hammer 63 for detonation thereof upon subsequent release of the rod 60. A second leaf spring 72, fixed to a projection 73 on the inner wall of the after casingportion 51, frictionally bears on the cap strip 65, at an acute angle thereto, to

prevent reverse feeding of the cap strip 65 during forward movement of the rod 61 to its normal position under the action of spring 70.

Rod 60, adjacent the leaf spring 71, is formed with a semi-circular, laterally projecting shoulder 74 for coaction with'a trigger mechanism 75 to retain the rod 60 in its rearward, phantom line position against the action of spring 70. Trigger mechanism 75 comprises a generally L-shaped trigger plate 76 including a trigger portion 77 which projects through a slot 78 in the after casing portion 51into the finger receiving opening 79 defined by the trigger guard 57. The inner end of trigger plate 76 is formed with a projection 80 adapted to engage the forward face of shoulder 74 to retain the rod 60 in said rearward position. Trigger plate 75 is resiliently biased to its shoulder engaging position by a coil spring 81.

In the operation of the modified form of gun shown in Figure 3, the latter is cocked by retracting the rod 60 and plunger head 61 against the action of coil spring 70, in the manner heretofore described, the shoulder 74 riding over i the projection 80 on the trigger mechanism 75 and engagcomprised of anyone of numerous well knowntimpact detonated explosive mixtures capable of generating a substantialquantity, of smoke on fin'ng thereof.

The modified gun of Figure 3 comprises a casing including a cylindrical after portion 51, defining an after chamber 52, and an enlarged conical forward portion 53, defining a forward chamber 54; The forward wall of conical portion 53 forms an orifice 55 similar to the orifice 38 in the gun of Figure 1. The after end of easing portion 51 is formed toprovide a hand grip 56 and a trigger guard 57. t

Slidably and rotatably mounted in central apertures in a transverse wall 58, between after chamber 52 and forward chamber 54, and in an end wall 59 of the casing portion 51, is a rod 60 which mounts at its forward end, within the forward chamber 54, a disk-shaped plunger head 61 and at its after end, externally of the casing 50, with a knob 62. Wall 58 is apertured at 58'.

Fixed to an intermediate point of the rod 60, within the after chamber 52, is a laterally projecting hammer 63 which cooperates with an anvil 64, fixed to the after casing portion 51, to fire the caps in a cap strip 65 which is fed from a supply roll 66 around the underside of the anvil 64, between the latter and the hammer 63, and out through an exit slot 67 in the gun casing. Roll 66 is mounted on a pin 69 fixed to the after casing portion 51. Hammer 63 is. resiliently biased toward the anvil 64 by a coil compression spring 70 abutting at ing the after face of said production so that the plunger assembly 60, 61 will be retained in its retracted position. Upon depression of the trigger 77 toward the hand grip 56, the projection will be moved out of the path of the shoulder 74, and the plunger assembly will be moved forwardly under the action of spring 70. Hammer 63 will, thereby, be moved into impactwith the anvil 64 to fire one of the" caps in strip 65 to produce a quantity of smoke within the after chamber 52. After a sufficient number of caps have thus been fired, the smoke produced thereby will flow through the apertures 58' in the transverse wall 58, around the disk-shaped plunger head 61, between it and the conical wall of the forward chamber 54, and will be expelled through the forward orifice 55 upon forward movement of the plunger head 61, in the manner described with reference to Figure 1. r

The rotatable mounting of rod 60 and plunger head 61 in the casing 50 permits the rod 60to be rotated degrees from the position illustrated in Figure 3 to a position wherein the hammer 63 and cap strip advancing spring 71 are disposed out of the path of the cap strip 65 and anvil 64 so that only the plunger assembly 60, 61 may be operated in the manner abovedescribed, to permit the expelling of smoke from the gun to form smoke rings without the firing of caps. In this latter position of the rod 60 the shoulder 74 will remain in operative relationship to the trigger mechanism 75, as indicated in phantom lines in Figure 4, owing to its semi-circular extent and knob 62 limits forward movement of the plunger assembly.

Casing 50 of the modified form of the gun in Figure 3 may be constructed on a pair of half-shells in the'same manner as the gun of Figure 1. opening, not shown, will be provided in the casing 50 to permit loading of a roll 66 of caps onto the pin 69.

While certain preferred forms of the present invention have been described and illustrated, they are all illustra- Also, a suitable access tive in nature only, it being apparent that numerous modifications in design and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A toy gun comprising: a hollow casing, a plunger in said casing, said plunger separating the interior of said easing into first and second compartments located at opposite sides of the plunger, means mounting said plunger on the casing for movement of the plunger to a first limiting position in one direction to increase the volume of said first compartment and decrease the volume of said second compartment and for movement of the plunger to a second limiting position in the opposite direction to increase the volume of said second compartmentand decrease the volume of said first compartment, the wall of said casing having a relatively thin edged orifice opening into said first compartment, the edge thickness of said orifice measured in the axial direction of the orifice being small in comparison to the orifice diameter, cap firing means in said second compartment for exploding caps in the latter compartment to generate smoke therein, there being a passage communicating said compartments through which smoke in said second compartment may flow into said first compartment when the plunger is moved to said first limiting position, said plunger being movable from said first limiting position to said second limiting position to expell a puff of smoke from said first compartment through said orifice, the edge of the orifice forming the smoke issuing therethrough into a smoke ring, and means for operating said plunger and cap firing means exteriorly of said casing.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said passage is between said plunger and casing and the wall of said casing has an internally reduced portion for sealingly engaging said plunger'when the latter is in said second limiting position whereby to seal oif said second compartment from said first compartment.

3. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said cap firing means includes an anvil on said casing, a hammer on said plunger, and means for feeding a strip ,of caps between said hammer and anvil in response to movement of said plunger to said first limiting position, said hammer being movable into impact with said anvil to explode a cap upon movement of the plunger to said second limiting position, a spring for urging said plunger toward said second limiting position, and said operating means including a handle fixed to said plunger and located exteriorly of said casing by which the plunger may be retracted to said first limiting position against the action of said spring.

4. The subject matter of claim 3 wherein said firstmentioned means comprises means journaling said plunger on the casing for rotation of said plunger relative to said casing to selectively misalign said hammer and anvil whereby said hammer will not strike said anvil when the plunger moves to said second limiting position, said handle being rigid on said plunger to permit turning of the latter by the handle to selectively align and misalign said hammer and anvil.

5. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said cap firing means includes an anvil on said casing, a hammer on said plunger, and means for feeding a strip of caps between said hammer and anvil in response to movement of said plunger to said first limiting position, said hammer being movable into impact with said anvil to explode a cap upon movement of the plunger to said second limiting position, a spring for urging said plunger toward said second limiting position, and said operating means including a handle fixed to said plunger and located exteriorly of said casing by which the plunger may be retracted to said first limiting position against the action of said spring, and means including a trigger extending to the exterior of said casing for releasably retaining said plunger in said first limiting position.

6. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said cap firing means includes an anvil on said casing, a hammer supported on said casing for movement toward and away from the anvil, and said operating means comprising means including a trigger extending to the exterior of the casing for retracting said hammer a given distance away from the anvil and then releasing the hammer, a connection between said hammer and plunger whereby the latter is moved to said first limiting position when the hammer is retracted, and spring means for urging the hammer toward the anvil and said plunger toward said second limiting position when said hammer is released.

7. A toy gun comprising: a hollow elongate casing having forward and rear end walls and a side wall defining a relatively closed chamber, said forward end wall having a relatively thin-edged orifice, the edge thickness of said orifice measured in the axial direction of the orifice being small in comparison to the orifice diameter, a plunger in said chamber including a plunger head disposed in a transverse plane of the casing, means mounting said plunger on the casing for movement of said plunger head lengthwise of the casing toward and away from said orifice between forward and rear limiting positions, said plunger head separating said chamber into front and rear compartments, cap firing means in said rear compartment for exploding caps to generate smoke in the latter compartment, there being a passage communicating said compartments through which smoke may flow from said rear compartment to said front compartment when the plunger is moved to said rear limiting position, said plunger being movable from said rear limiting position to said forward limiting position to expell a pufi? of smoke from the front compartment through said orifice to form a smoke ring, and means for operating said plunger and cap firing means exteriorly of said casing. v

8. The subject matter of claim 7 wherein the portion of the side wall of said casing between said limiting positions tapers inwardly toward said forward limiting position, said side wall portion and plunger head being spaced to form said passage therebetween when said plunger is in other than said forward limiting position, and said side wall portion being tapered to sealingly engage said plunger head when the latter is in said forward limiting position to seal ofl? said rear compartment from said forward compartment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,061,471 Larson Nov. 17, 1936 2,446,698 Fujiwara Aug. 10, 1948 2,457,921 Riederich Jan. 4, 1949 2,561,849 Everett July 24, 1951 2,628,450 Shelton Feb. 17, 1953