US2855722A - Drive for toy vehicles - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 14, 1958 R, HAUssER 2,855,722'

DRIVE FOR TOY VEHICLES "/,INVENTOR R027 Havas er BY .ajromsy 06f. 14, 1958 R, HAUssER 2,855,722

DRIVE FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed Feb. 13, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 j if Rozf #1955er ATTORNEY nited States Patent O 2,855,722 DRIVE FOR TOY VEHICLES Rolf Hausser, Neustadt, near Coburg, Germany, assiguor to O. & M. Hausser, Neustadt, near Coburg, Germany, a German firm Application February 13, 1953, Serial No. 336,821

` s Claims. (c1. 46-208) The invention relates to a drive for toy vehicles, especially toy motor cars such as freight cars, and is characterized thereby that a helical spring is used for producing the power for the driving gear, in contradistinction to the usual running gears for toys in which a coiled spring is utilized.

If a helical spring is used for producing the power various problems arise the solution of which is not quite simple. The power existing at the two opposite ends of a helical spring wound up acts on parts of the vehicle, e. g. the chassis, to which the spring is fastened. Therefore, often distortions of these parts of the vehicle arise. 11n order to avoid such distortionsv these parts of the Evehicle must be very strong, a fact which is undesired not only on account of the selection of a suitable material and the cost connected therewith but also because the weight and the dimensions are increased thereby. Besides, a toy vehicle especially a toy motor car must cover a` sufficiently long distance before requiring the spring to Lie wound up again. Therefore, a suiliciently large and sufficiently strong spring must be accommodated, a fact not only difficult on account of the distorting forces mentioned above but also on account of the required space. Moreover a toy vehicle having its gear shifted to a certain position must run with a uniform speed, a helical spring, however, tends to unwind quickly inthe `beginning and then gradually slower. Also thecontrol of the friction conditions arising when winding up the spring and when the windings of the lspring contraction the inner rod provided for guiding the spring is difficult. According to the invention these problems may be solved simply as well as surprisingly by transmitting the accumulated power of the spring from that of its ends at which it is wound up, and carrying off said power near the vother end of the spring which is fastened to an immovable part of the vehicle.

According to a further feature of the invention a rotatably supported sleeve serves to guide the helical spring, said sleeve embracing the wind up shaft in the region of the spring and carrying the spring. This carrying sleeve prevents friction losses which may arise if the spring engages the winding up shaft passing therel through. Only the ends of the carrying sleeve are supported by short collars to warrant their easy running. It is of special advantage to provide on the carrying sleeve a further sleeve composed of numerous rings.

According to a further feature of the invention the mentioned screw springdrive is combined with a fly wheel motor, e. g. by inserting a y wheel as an additional force accumulator between the driving shaft of the driving mechanism and its driven shaft.

For starting and stopping the driving mechanism, according to the invention, a braking lever is used passing through an opening of the wall along which the lly wheel 'slides and acting on the circumference of the y Wheel.

The braking lever which preferably is a rocking lever may move suitably not only into the braking position and into the driving position, but also into a third shifting position in which it has a further function, e. g. to close the current circuit of a light system.

A specially advantageous embodiment vof the invention is to arrange the helical'spring in the longitudinal direction ofthe vehicle, toshapethe driving mechanism as z square portion d for receiving a winding-up key and is.

a motor imitation provided above the'shaft of the frontwheels and to drive the rear-wheel shaft thereby by means of a transmission shaft.

Further features and advantages of the invention are explained in the following specification and description of the drawings showingan embodiment of the invention schematically. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side View of the driving mechanism partially in a longitudinal section,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, partly in a longitudinal section,

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view in the direction ofy the arrow X in Fig. l,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6is a side view partly in section of a y wheel,

Fig. 7 is a cross section through the fly wheel of Fig. 6,

Fig. 8 is a rear elevational View in the direction of the arrow Y in Fig. l, and

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Oneend of a helical spring 1 is connected to the casing 3 of the driving gears at 2. The other end of said spring is attached at 5 to a flange 6 secured to the winding-up shaft 7. The shaft 7 is provided at its rear end with a supported in the girder 9 of the rear-wheel chassis.

Within the helical spring 1 a carrying sleeve l@ is provided, supported by short collars 11 and 12, one of which is fastened tothe casing 3 of the driving gear an;d the other tothe ange 6. The collars 11 and 12 and/or the carrying sleeve 10 consist suitably of stainless metal such as brass or the like so that even if the vehicle stands in wet locations for a certain period of time the capability of the carrying sleeve 10 of being easily turned is not impaired.

The wind-up shaft 7 is elongated towards the driving gears. it passes through the carrying sleeve 1t) in the axial direction and is coupled with the driving shaft 14 ofthe driving gear 2i by a universal joint 13. The two shafts engage each other by means of their fork like ends on said shaft ends'.

Therefore, the power accumulated by winding up the helical spring is carried off at that end of the helical spring where the spring is wound up, but the transmission of'this power is effected near the place where the other end-of the helical spring is fastened to the casing 3 of the driving gears, through the pinion 15 of the shaft 14 to the wheels of the driving gears.

The pinion 15 meshes with a pinion 16 on a shaft 17 on which a toothed wheel 18 is mounted engaging a pinion 19 on an axle 29. A toothed wheel 21 is mounted on the axle 2@ and'drives a pinion 22 on a shaft of a ily wheel A free motionis provided in this transmission. In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings this free motion consists in supporting the shaft 17 of the driving gears in a wall 2li of the casing 3 of the driving gear and in a slot 25 (Fig. 3) so that the shaft is in its lower bearing position only if power is transmitted. The shaft then transmits the drive through the Wheel '18 to the pinion 19 while when rotating in the opposite direction, it is lifted andthe transmission of the power to the pinion 19 is interrupted. i p l As already mentioned a specially important advantage of the invention may be attained by combining the helical spring drive with a fly wheel motor. In the embodiment showny in the drawing the y wheel 23 is accommodated in a pgot like casing 26 preferably made by a drawing step, rso that its wall 27 is smooth and seamless. A segment 28 (Fig. 6) inserted into the Hy wheel 23 coacts with the wall like a centrifugal regulator. vThe segment 3. 28- is held in its position of rest by an open spring ring 29.- inserted into a circumferential groove 30 of the y wheel so that its one end 31 lies before the segment and its other end 32 engages the segment. The segment slides along the inner wall 27 if moved outwardly by centrifugal force. The stronger the action of centrifugal force, the greater its frictional pressure. The segment, therefore, causes a uniform releasing of the helical spring 1. The described embodiment warrants a rather uniform releasing of the spring from the beginning up to the end, as proved by tests, therefore the vehicle moves with a uniform speed corresponding to the set gear. The additional power accumulated by the rotating fly wheel, of course, also helps in this respect.

According to the invention the ily wheel 23 which consists preferably *of two outer disks and an inner disk of smaller thickness, Fig. 7, serves also for starting and stopping the driving mechanism. For this purpose a brake lever 33 is provided with a nose portion 34 and which passes through an opening 35 of the wall 27 to engage the circumference of the fly wheel 23. This brake lever may be rocked up and down around its angularly bent web 36. For operating this lever 33 a hand lever 37 is provided bent towards a web 36. If this lever is in the position I (Fig. 3) the nose 34 of the brake lever 33 presses onto the fly wheel and prevents it from turning and the vehicle stops. If, however, the hand lever 37 is moved upwardly into the position II (Fig. 3) the nose 34 of the brake lever 33 clears the fly wheel and the vehicle runs. As shown in the drawings the lever 37 may also be moved to a third position I-ll and this position has a further function, preferably for closing the current circuit of a light system, not shown. Preferably the three positions of the brake lever 33 are limited by grooves or the like in the casing of the driving gears. v

The driving gears 4 are arranged above a front wheel shaft 38 as shown in the drawings, and suitably it serves for carrying the front-wheel shaft or the pivots of the two front wheels. It may be shaped to simulate a motor and may be easily accommodated below the motor hood of the vehicle. The rear-wheel shaft 39 is driven by the driving gear by means of a transmission shaft 40 coupled with the associated driven shaft of the driving gear by a cardan joint. For this purpose the two shaft ends engage each other by fork-like members.

At the rear end the transmission shaft 40 carries a spur wheel 41 adapted to engage alternately two crown wheels 42 and 43 when the vehicle is shifted to forward running or backward running. Also, the transmission shaft 40 may be shifted into Va middle position or may be moved somewhat in the axial direction so that the wheel 41 provided thereon does not mesh with any of the two wheels 42 or 43, also that idle running is achieved or the vehicle is in the stop position. The longitudinal displacement of the shaft 40 is possible in consequence of the fork-like coupling with the shaft 20 of the driving wheel.

The rear end of the transmission shaft 40 is supported in the wall 44 by means of a horizontal transverse slot 45. This sliot is provided at its two ends with a downwardly directed groove 46 and an upwardly directed groove 47 respectively. These two grooves are engaged by the shaft 40 when shifted to forward running or backward running respectively. The said shaft is automatically secured by the counter-pressure of the crown wheel 42 or 43 respectively driven by its toothed wheel 41. If the shaft is in the recess 46 the wheel 41 meshes with the wheel 42 thereby rotating in the direction of the arrow Z. In consequence thereof the wheel 42 exerts a counter pressure oppositely directed and pressing the shaft downward, thereby holding the shaft in the recess 46; Conversely, if the wheel 41 meshes with the wheel 43 an upwardly directed counter-pressure is exsite@ by the Wheel. 4.3 in Consequene 0fv its travel, in the i a driving gear mounted at one end in said chassis and comprising a driven shaft, a helical spring connected to operatel said driving gear for driving the latter and having one end secured to the said chassis, a shaft arranged longitudinally in said helical spring; one end of said last-mentioned shaft being connected with the other end of the spring so that the spring may be wound up by turning the shaft last-mentioned and the other end of said last-mentioned shaft being supported near the end of the spring connected to the chassis, and being the driving shaft for said driving gear, a free motion device connected to said last-mentioned shaft and said driven shaft of said driving gear, and a fly wheel connected to said last-mentioned shaft lof the driving gear and said driven shaft.

2. A toy` vehicle according to claim 1, in which a centrifugal regulator is provided connected to operate with said fly wheel, said centrifugal regulator comprising a wall enclosing said fly wheel, a segment inserted in the circumference of said fly wheel and being movable in the radial direction and an open spring ring inserted into a circumferential groove of the fly wheel, the ends of the ring being attached to the y wheel and the segment respectively, and said segment being slidably pressed against said wall by centrifugal force.

3. A toy vehicle ac-cording to claim l, in which said y wheel consists of three concentric disks of which the middle disc has a smaller diameter to form a circumferential groove.

4. A toy vehicle comprising a chassis for the vehicle, a driving gear mounted at ione end in said chassis and comprising a driving shaft and a driven shaft, a helical spring connected to operate said driving gear for driving the latter and one end secured to said chassis, the driving shaft being arranged in the interior of said helical spring with one end of said shaft being connected with the other end of the spring so that the spring may be wound up by turning the shaft and the other end of said shaft being supported near the first-mentioned end of the spring secured to the chassis, and a free motion device connected to said driving shaft and said driven shaft of said driving gear, a casing for said driving gear,

a y wheel enclosed by said casing and connected to.

said driving shaft and said driven shaft, and a centrifugal regulator comprising a segment inserted in the circumference of said y wheel and being movable in the radial direction, said segment being slidably pressed against the wall of the casing by centrifugal force.

5. A toy vehicle according to claim 3 in which a braking lever is provided pivotally connected to the chassis and adapted to pass through an opening in said chassis to engage the said fly wheel thereby stopping the vehicle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,449,448 Roy Mar. 27, 1923 1,547,517 Neff July 28, 1925. 1,599,101 Savage Sept. 7, 1926 1,846,823 Westberg Feb. 23, 1932 2,131,877 King Oct. 4, 1938 2,172,416 Swenson Sept. l2, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 162,101 Great Britain Apr. 28, 1921 .'....r-.'. Sept' 12J

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