US3411478A

US3411478A - Bell mechanism for toy telephone

Info

Publication number: US3411478A
Application number: US549635A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jesse P Rhome
Original assignee: Masco Corp
Current assignee: Masco Corp
Priority date: 1966-05-12
Filing date: 1966-05-12
Publication date: 1968-11-19
Anticipated expiration: 1985-11-19

Description

Nov. 19,1968 RHOME 3,411,478

BELL MECHANISM FOR TOY TELEPHONE Filed May 12, 1966 INVENTOK JESSE P. RHOME l I ATTORNEYS United States Patent 01 hee 3,411,478 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 3,411,478 BELL MECHANISM FOR TOY TELEPHONE Jesse P. Rhome, Lorain, Ohio, assignor to Masco Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed May 12, 1966, Ser. No. 549,635 2 Claims. (Cl. 116-160) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bell ringing mechanism for a toy telephone having a reciprocable actuator plate engageable with a rotary cam plate through a plurality of cams to rotate the cam plate and ring a bell when one of a number of push buttons on the actuator plate is depressed.

This invention relates to a bell mechanism for use in a toy and has particular reference to a manually actuated toy telephone bell mechanism for realistically reproducing the ringing sound of a telephone.

The mechanism is operated by depressing an actuator plate which simulates the push buttons on modern telephones to ring a bell. When the plate is released the bell continues ringing until the actuator plate is returned to its normal position. The invention produces a ringing sound quite similar to that of an actual telephone. The bell ringing mechanism assures that the duration of the ringing sound produced with each depression of the plate is approximately equal to the duration of that of a conventional telephone. Thus the ringing produced by the invention is in sound, quality and duration like that of a real telephone so as to markedly increase the reality of a toy telephone.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a new and improved toy bell mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved bell mechanism for a toy telephone.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanical toy telephone bell mechanism which produces a ring ing sound highly similar to that of a conventional telephone.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a toy telephone with a bell mechanism according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of the bell mechanism as taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the bell mechanism as taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of an actuator control plate according to the invention; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIGURE 4.

As illustrated in the drawings, a toy telephone may include a housing 10 and receiver 12. A bell mechanism 14 is mounted on a chassis 16 which is secured within housing 10 by

screws

18, 20", 22 and 24 which engage mounting

holes

26, 28, 30 and 32 respectively in the chassis 16. With the bell mechanism mounted within housing 10, numbered buttons 34 of actuator plate 36 project through openings 38 in the front panel of housing 10.

As shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, the underside of the plate 36 is provided at its opposite ends with

cams

40 and 42. The cam surfaces 43 of cams 42 are sloped oppositely to the direction of slope of the corresponding surfaces of cams 40. A cam plate 44 is pivotally secured on chassis 16 by means of pin 46 and is provided with cam surfaces 48 located at one end of plate 44 and cam surfaces 50 located at the other end of plate 44. As illustrated best in FIGURES 4 and 6, the sloped cam surfaces 43 of cams 42 engage the cam surfaces 48 on cam plate 44 and the cam surfaces 43 of cams 40 engage the cam surfaces 50 so that when the plate 36 is depressed, the cam plate 44 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction around pin 46. The

cams

40 and 42 and

surfaces

48 and 50 are symmetrically located with regard to the pin 46 so that the cam plate 44 is smoothly rotatedwhen the plate 36 is depressed.

A pin 52 projects downwardly from cam plate 44 and extends through a slot 54 in the chassis 16 and is confined within groove 56 in gear segment 58. The gear 58 is pivoted to the chassis 16 on post 60 and carries teeth 62 which engage the teeth of pinion gear 64 which is rotatably mounted on chassis 16 by pin 65. A striker mechanism including a rotor 66 having eccentric weights 68 rotatably secured to the outer ends thereof is rotatable with pinion gear 64.

Spring stop 70 carried by cam plate 44 extends through slot 72 in the chassis 16 and provides a stop for one arm of the spring 74 which is wound around post 60'. The other end of the coil spring 74 is held against fixed post 76 so that the spring biases the cam plate 44 toward the position as illustrated in FIGURE 4 to raise plate 36 to its extended position through engagement of the cam surfaces previously described. Pin 76 also forms a stop to prevent counterclockwise rotation of gear 58 past the position shown in FIGURE 2 to assure that the teeth 62 are always engaged with gear 64.

A bell 78 is mounted coaxially with rotor 66 on a post 79 secured to a support bracket 80 of chassis 16. The bell side walls are bent inwardly at regular intervals to form striker ridges 82 spaced around the inner circumference of the bell. When the mechanism is operated so as to rotate rotor 66, the eccentric weights 68 carried at the ends thereof are thrown outwardlyby centrifugal force and hit the ridges 82 to produce a ringing sound similar to that of a conventional telephone.

The top telephone bell mechanism is operated by pressing down upon any one of the numbered buttons 34 so as to move plate 36 toward the carnl plate 44. With the inward motion of plate 36- the surfaces 43 of

earns

40 and 42 will ride along

cam surfaces

48 and 50 and rotate the cam plate in a counterclockwise direction so that pin 52 will engage groove 56 and rotatejgear 58 about pin 60 in the same direction as plate 44.1}.

Since the radial distance between

pins

52 and 60 is less than that between

pins

52 and 46, the gear 58 will be rotated through a. greater angle than will plate 44. With the rotation of gear 58 produced by movement of the actuator plate 36 gear 64 is drivent through several rotations due to its smaller diameter than that of the drive gear 58. It will therefore be seen that when one of the buttons 34 is fully depressed, the rotor 66 is revolved several times and the eccentric striker weights 68 will be brought into contact with the striker ridges 82 to produce the desired ringing sound. The inertia of the drive system and particularly that of the rotor 66 and weights 68 prevents a child from depressing plate 58 rotates rotor 66 in the opposite direction past the striker ridges 82 to continue ringing the bell.

With the mechanism described, the plate 36 need be depressed only a slight distance to produce the desired ringing of the bell, and this action closely imitates the operation of a push button telephone. By using an actuator plate with four cam elements located adjacent the corners thereof, it is posible to operate the mechanism by depressing any one of the ten buttons 34 on the plate so that the entire plate is moved inwardly and does not skew or jam against the housing 10 or cam plate 44. WhileI have illustrated and described a preferred cmbodiment of my invention, it is understood that this is capable of modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

What I claim in my invention is:

1'. A bell ringing mechanism comprising a support, a bell carried by said support, a bell striker rotatably mounted on said support adjacent said bell, a cam plate rotatably mounted on said support and having a plurality of cam surfaces spaced around its periphery, an actuator member disposed in spaced and opposed relation to said cam plate and movable toward and away from said cam plate, said actuator member having a plurality of cam members thereon projecting toward said cam plate and engageable with the resting upon said cam surfaces for supporting said actuator member in said relation to said cam plate, said actuator member being manually depressible toward cam plate for effecting engagement of said cam members with said cam surfaces to rotate said cam plate, drive means connecting said cam plate to said striker whereby rotation of said cam plate rotates said striker to ring said bell, and a spring biasing said cam plate against said rotation so that upon release of said actuator member said spring rotates said cam plate and said striker in the opposite direction to continue ringing said bell and to effect return movement of said actuator member.

2. A bell ringing mechanism as in claim 1 wherein said drive means comprises a drive gear pivotally carried by said support, a drive connection between said drive gear and said cam plate comprising a pin carried by either said drive gear or said cam plate and a slot in the other of said drive gear or cam plate, said pin extending into said slot, and a driven gear on said striker meshed with said drive gear.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 470,025 3/1892 Wells 116l60 519,828 5/1894 Adams 116160 547,091 10/1895 Snyder 11616O 576,257 2/1897 Cole et al. 116-158 XR 1,586,504 5/1926 Allen 46-33 1,778,557 10/1930 Hill 46--33 2,533,327 12/1950 Richard et a1 4633 LOUIS J. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner.