US3444623A

US3444623A - Drawing toy

Info

Publication number: US3444623A
Application number: US688783A
Authority: US
Inventors: Tobin Wolf
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1967-12-07
Filing date: 1967-12-07
Publication date: 1969-05-20
Anticipated expiration: 1986-05-20

Description

May 20, 1969 T. WOLF 3,444,623

DRAWING TOY Filed Dec. 7, 1967 Sheet of s INVENTOR Tobin Wolf BY g 0m ATTORNEY May 20, 1969 T. WOLF 3,444,623

DRAWING TOY Filed Dec. 7, .1967 Sheet 3 of 3 I5 25 L W n L-J v 1 1 se 33 5 3 l3 INVENTOR Tobin Wolf 'I'IIII'IIIII'I'I'III'I'II'II'I'"III.

G v ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,444,623 DRAWING TOY Tobin Wolf, 447 Essex Ave., Bloomfield, NJ. 07003 Filed Dec. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 688,783 Int. Cl. B431 13/10 U.S. C]. 33-27 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure relates to a drawing toy in the form of a pantograph-like device wherein a pair of cams of predetermined contour is provided and rotated by means of a motor or the like. Each of the x and y arms is associated with one of the cams and follows the contour thereof, the pantograph arms controlling a scribe in accordance with the vector sum of the arm movements.

[This invention relates to a pantograph-like drawing toy and more particularly to a magical drawing toy with which a child can easily draw pictures, ordinarily requiring a considerable degree of skill, with the air of preshaped or premolded cams or templates.

Pantograph type drawing toys have been well known in the art as exemplified by the patent to McBerty No. 2,720,704. The prior art drawing toys have required, in most cases, that a predrawn image be followed by a stylus member and drive a second drawing member on the pantographic arms to reproduce the design of the original either on the same scale or on an enlarged or diminished scale, as desired. While toys of this kind are highly desirable, such pantographic type device provide no degree of suspense or magic since the result is known beforehand from an observation of the original figure to be traced.

In accordance with the present invention, an entirely new dimension is provided in drawing toys and in pantographic drawing toy devices as compared with the prior art in that the element of suspense and magic is added. Briefly, a pair of cams or templates is provided, one template operating the x arm of the pantographic drawing device and the other template for operating the 3; arm of the pantographic drawing device, the templates being positioned one atop the other or side by side and being rotated or otherwise moved in a preset time relation with respect to each other whereby the combined movements of the x and y arms at any point in time will represent the position on the drawing board of the scribing device. One complete rotation of the templates will cause the scribe member to trace all of the lines required for completion of a drawing. However, the final drawing to be created is not readily discernible from an observation of the templates and therefore the operator has no way of knowing what the final design will be until it has actually been drawn. The templates can be readily replaced to provide the capability of drawing a plurality of different designs. The scribe member can be an actual writing instrument such as a ball point pen, pencil or the like or it can be a pointed object and the drawing surface can be the well known magic slate.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a patentably novel pantographic type drawing toy.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a drawing toy which is operated by a pair of cam type templates which, in combination, form a predetermined design.

It is a yet further object of this invention to provide a pantographic drawing toy wherein the pantograph arms are separately driven by camming surface, the combination of movements of the two pantograph arms creating a predetermined design on a surface.

The objects and still further objects of this invention 3,444,623 Patented May 20, 1969 will immediately become apparent to those skilled in the art when considered in view of the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is provided by way of example and not by way of limitation wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the drawing toy in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the design traced by the stylus as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the drawing toy in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the drawing toy in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the drawing toy in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the line 66 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the stylus and a magic slate drawing surface embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the figures, there is shown the pantograph type drawing toy of the present invention 1, which includes a base member with a top surface 3, side 5 and end 7. A pantograph arm 9 having an extended groove 11 along the axis thereof is pivoted on and rotatable about a pivot member 13 which is secured within the base member 3. The arm 9 rests atop a pantograph arm 15 which is pivotally mounted and rotatable about a pivot member 17. The arm 15 also has an elongated groove 19 extending along the axis thereof. Actually, both the

arms

9 and 15 will traverse a slightly arcuate path rather than a straight path along the x and y axis. A scribe member 21 is slidably movable along the arm 15 and within the groove 19 thereof and also movable within the groove 11 in the arm 9, the scribe member 21 being secured to a holding member .23 which is slidable along the arm 15.

The arm member 9 is biased in a clockwise direction by means of a spring member 25 which is secured to the arm 9 and to a post 27 secured at the central portion at the base surface member 3. The arm 15 is biased in a counterclockwise direction by a spring member 29 which is secured to the arm 15 and the post 27.

Springs

25 and 29 may be replaced by torsion springs at

pivots

13 and 17 respectively.

A cam follower 3-1 is secured to the arm 15 and contacts a first y arm positioning template 33, the follower 31 being positioned in accordance with the contour of the outer surface of the cam or template member 33 and thereby positioning the arm 15 in accordance therewith. A second cam follower 35 is secured to the arm- 9 and abuts the cam or template member 37 whereby the arm 9 is positioned in accordance with the contour of the cam 37 and the movement of the cam follower member 35 along the outer cam surface. The

cams

33 and 37 are mounted on the spindle 43 which is secured on the base member 3 or on the motor 45. It can be seen that the scribe member 21 will be moved in accordance with the combination or vector sum of the movements of the

arms

9 and 15, these movements being determined by the surface or edge contours of the

earns

33 and 37.

Also positioned on the base member 3 is a drawing portion 39 on which the drawing can be made. The drawing portion 39 may be a normal piece of paper when the scribe member 21 is a pen, pencil or the like. The member 39 could also be the well known magic slate in the event that scribe member 21 is a pointed object such as a piece of wood or a pencil or pen, as the case may be. An enlarged view of this design receiving portion 39 with a design 41 thereon is shown in FIG. 2. The magic slate type of reproduction area is shown in FIG. 8 wherein there is shown a top sheet member 45 which is positioned above a black waxy undcrsurface 47 and removable therefrom in the well known manner. The scribe member 21 is affixed to the slide member 23 which is secured to the arm member 15.

The

cam members

33 and 37 which are driven by the spindle 43 are provided with power by a motor 45 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The motor 45 could be provided with an on-off switch (not shown) which could be connected to a source of electrical power (not shown) to provide rotation of the motor. In addition, a gear train could be provided in the event that a slow down in speed of rotation of the

cam members

33 and 37 is required. As an alternative, the motor can be replaced by a hand crank attached to the shaft 43 to provide the rotary motion to the cams.

In operation, a pair of

cam members

33 and 37 is provided and positioned onto the spindle 43, the cam members being matched to create a predetermined design when oriented on the spindle 43 in a predetermined manner with respect to each other. A mating groove or the like can be provided in the two cams to provide such predetermined orientation. The arms are then permitted to come to their biased position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. At this point the scribe member 21 is in its writing or reproducing position and is prepared to commence operation. The

cams

33 and 37 are then rotated one revolution or more whereby the

cam followers

31 and 35 Which abut the outer cam surfaces cause their

respective arms

15 and 9 to move in accordance with the contour of the cam surfaces. The scribe member is moved in accordance with the combination of movements of the

arms

9 and 15 to provide the design. As stated hereinabove, the scribe member 21 can be a pencil and thereby trace out the predetermined design or, as an alternative, it can be a pointed member which provides the design on a magic slate. In addition, other reproducing media can be used as are well known in the art.

Though the above invention has been described with respect to the specific preferred embodiment thereof many variations and modifications thereof will immediately become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore the intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the prior art to include all such variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:

1. A drawing device comprising a base having a top Surface for supporting a recording sheet, a pair of intersecting arms pivotally mounted at one end on vertical axes on said surface for oscillation in planes above and parallel to said surface, an elongated slot at the other end of each arm, said arms intersecting at the slots, scriber means slidably mounted at the intersection of the arms extending through said slots for slidable movement therealong for recording on the sheet, a pair of cams coaxially mounted for rotation parallel to and, above said surface and in the angle formed by the intersecting arms, and means for rotating said cams, a cam follower carried by each arm for engagement with one of said cams, and spring means biasing said cam followers into engagement with the cams.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the means mounting the scriber comprises a holder plate, a groove in said holder plate slidably supporting one of the arms, and means securing the scriber to the plate, said scriber extending through the slots in the arms.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,386,332 8/ 1921 Hendrickson. 1,883,204 10/ 1932 Whitaker.

FOREIGN PATENTS 222,716 10/ 1924 Great Britain. 290,696 11/ 1931 Italy.

HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner.