US3587190A - Toy having flexible track - Google Patents

Abstract

PERMIT IT TO BE TWISTED AND BANKED AND ELEVATED AND DEPRESSED WITHOUT THE RAILS BECOMMING SEPARATED FROM THE CONNECTING SECTION AND SUCH THAT THE TRACK WILL REMAIN IN THE POSITION IN WHICH THE USER HAS ARRANGED IT. THE TRACK RAIL IS SPECIALLY MADE TO PINCH AND FRICTIONALLY ENGAGE AN EDGE OF THE CONNECTING SECTION OF THE TRACK.
THIS INVENTION RELATES TO A TOY OF THE CLASS WHICH INCORPORATES A BALL AND A TRACK ALONG WHICH THE BALL IS MOVED. ONE EMBODIMENT IS DESCRIBED IN THE SPECIFICATION AND SHOWN IN THE DRAWING. THE TWO TRACK RAILS ARE SEPARATING FROM AN INTERCONNECTING SECTION AND IN THE OTHER THE TRACK RAILS AND INTERCONNECTING SECTION ARE INTEGRALLY FORMED. THE BALL HAS A DIAMETER RELATIVE TO TRACK SPACING SO THAT THE BALL CONTACTS ONLY THE RAILS AND NOT THE CONNECTING SECTION AS IT PROCEEDS ALONG THE TRACK. THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE TRACK MATERIAL

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventor Wesley W. Ashton 18121 Fourth Street Santa Ana, Calif. 92680 [21] Appl. No. 763,093 [22] Filed Sept. 27, 1968 [4S] Patented June 28, 1971 [54] TOY HAVING FLEXIBLE TRACK 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl ..46/43, 46/1, 238/10 [51] Int. Cl A63h 33/00 [50] Field ofSearch 46/43, 1 (K), 202, 216; 238/10, 10(8), 10(C), 10(D) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,028,401 1/1936 Lore 238/10 2,153,625 4/1936 Jones 238/10 2,862,333 12/1958 Gardiol 46/43(X) 3,394,489 7/1968 Martin Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney-Nienow and Frater One embodiment is described in the specification and shown in the drawing. The two track rails are separable from an interconnecting section and in the other the track rails and interconnecting section are integrally formed. The ball has a diameter relative to track spacing so that the ball contacts only the rails and not the connecting section as it proceeds along the track. The physical properties of the track material permit it to be twisted and banked and elevated and depressed without the rails becoming separated from the connecting section and such that the track will remain in the position in which the user has arranged it. The track rail is specially made to pinch and frictionally engage an edge of the connecting section of the track.

. l TOY rrsvrsc FLEXIBLE TRACK track.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved ball and toy track for children. It is entirely possible for a toy to be educational in the sense that it aids in developing manual skills, imagination, creativity, and sometimes all of these, and to be entertaining as well. In fact, to the extent that the educational value requires use of the toy over extended periods of time, it must be entertaining or have some other ingredient that encourages its continued and prolonged use.

It is an object of this invention to provide a toy whose use does develop manual skills, mechanical judgment, imagination, and creativity and which a large proportion of children will consider to be entertaining and enjoyable. A related object is to provide a toy which will be attractive to children whose age falls within a relatively wide range of ages.

Other objects of the invention include the provision of a toy for which tooling costs are minimum, which can be manufactured and packaged at relatively low cost with minimum capital expenditure, which is entirely safe both to manufacture and to use, has reasonable longevity, whose use is readily understood, and which is not subject to catastrophic failure whereby its usefulness continues despite damage and deterioration.

Certain of these and other objects and advantages of the invention which will hereinafter appear are realized in part by the provision of a toy which includes a flexible track and a spherical ball mounted for rolling movement along the track; the track comprising a pair of rails separated a uniform distance apart along their length and joined by an interconnecting member which is flexible in the direction of its thickness and relatively less flexible than the rails in the direction of its width and length, at least one of said interconnecting member and said rails being resilient; the ball having diameter sufficiently great to confine its rolling contact to the rail faces at one side of the track and to preclude rolling contact with the interconnecting member.

The embodiment of the invention selected for illustration in the drawings, and for detailed description in the specification, incorporates these structural features. The track may be twisted and turned up, down, to one side and to the other. It can be banked or not banked around turns as desired and it is generally arranged so that the child using the toy has wide latitude in the placement and the arrangement of the track. Despite the fact that this latitude is permitted, the track is arranged relative to the ball so that the two are associated in the same way throughout the length of the track except when the ball is caused to leave the track because it has been improperly banked or otherwise arranged so that one of the laws of dynamics has been violated. The track is arranged so that the spacing between the rails is unifonn and the spacing is selected so that the ball contacts the track at only two points, one point on each rail. In this arrangement the center of gravity of the ball is necessarily above the line connecting the points at which the ball engages the tracks. The stability of the ball and track system is a function of the distance between that line and the center of gravity of the ball and of the density of the ball. In preferred form the ball comprises a glass marble so that in practice the stability of the toy (and so the age group for which it is suitable) depends upon the relationship between the ball diameter and track spacing. Advantageously, the center of gravity is well above the line connecting the points of track engagement so that the ball will leave the track relatively easily. This arrangement insures that substantial banking is required at the curves at easily realizable ball velocities along the track whereby the magnitude of tangential forces and their relationship to velocity will be readily apparent. The toy constitutes a learning tool and presents interest retaining challenge only when the ball leaves the track or obviously almost leaves it. The track has all the flexibility required so that the child can take corrective action in any degree from too little to too much. In this connection it is one of the objects of the invention to provide a toy which provides the advantages and the appeal of a ball and track class of toy without limiting the child to any specific predefined structural arrangements.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is an isometric view of a toy embodying the invention and comprising a length oftrack upon which a ball is mounted for movement along the track;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken transversely through the track on line 22 of FIG. I showing the ball in elevation and mounted on the track;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken laterally through one rail of the track of FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the condition of the rail with the connecting member removed; and

FIG. 8 is a view in top elevation of one curved section of track.

Referring to FIG. I of the drawings, the toy comprises a pair of tracks l0 and 12 connected by an elongate connecting member generally designated 13 and which in this embodiment comprises a series of connecting members laid end to end between the rails 10 and 12 from one end of the track to the other. One end of the track is labeled with the numeral 14 for identification and is elevated on a block 15. Except that the end 14 is elevated, the track is shown on a horizontal surface although it twists and turns from side to side along its length. Advantageously, the weight of the track is sufficient, and the degree of its frictional engagement with the surface on which it rests is sufficient, so that the track will lie in that position, and in a variety of other positions with other turns and twists, in which it may have been placed by the user. Both rails are made very flexible so that they may be easily turned and redirected from side to side or up and down. The connecting member advantageously is flexible in the direction of its thickness, which direction of flexing is illustrated by arrows A-A in FIG. 2, so that the track is easily directed up and down. But, the connecting member is made relatively less flexible in the direction of its length, as shown by arrows B-B in FIG. 2, so that the individual rails will not be displaced lengthwise of the connecting member significantly from their original position. The connecting member is relatively less flexible in the direction of its width, as shown by arrows C-C in FIG. 4, to the end that the spacing between rails remains uniform and so that the rail will be caused to tilt or bank when the track is curved in the plane of its rails.

In the preferred form of the invention, either the rails or the connecting member or both are made resilient in small degree. This quality in the materials of which the track is made provides a number of advantages including that the slope of the track, when it is arranged at different elevations, will be more gentle and the curves longer with a minimum supporting structure.

In the preferred form of the invention the connecting structure 13 is made detachable from the rails. A paper material, such as cardboard or bristolboard, is entirely suitable as are various pliable, and advantageously slightly resilient, dense plastic and other fibrous sheet materials. The connecting section l3 may be fonned of a number of lengths of connecting members arranged end to end so that their junctions occur at points other than the junction between successive sections of track rail if the rail is also divided into sections. The connecting sections may be formed with parallel edges and if all of them are so formed, the track will normally lie straight. If it is curved it will bank. In this form most of the objectives relating to the provision of an educational device which children will find enjoyable will be realized. Advantageously, however, some of the connecting sections will be curved along their length as are the sections 17 and 19 in FIG. 1. The remaining sections numbered 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 have parallel edges and are straight sections. That the track is curved in the region of sections 22, 23 and 24 is made possible, and is accounted for, by the fact that the track sections are banked with the outside rail lifted away from the horizontal.

The track rails may be sectioned if desired but advantageously are formed of a single length of pliable plastic material having relatively small resilience. The rails may be extruded in pieces of any length and there is no need to cut them into shorter lengths unless it is desired to make the problem of track assembly more difficult. An example of a segmented track and connecting section construction is illustrated in FlG. 4. The connection member 26 in FIG. 4 is curved and is mounted between rail sections 27 and 28 which are of substantially equal length and mounted on opposite edges of the connecting section such that the left end 29 of rail 27 extends beyond the left end 30 of the connecting section 26 whereas the left end 31 of the other rail 28 ends short of end 30 of the connecting section. At the other end of the track section of FIG. 4, the right end 32 of the rail section 27 ends short of end 33 of the connecting section 26 but right end 3 t of rail section 28 extends beyond the right end of the interconnecting section 26. This arrangement permits assembly of a series of track sections so that the rails of one section overlap the connecting portions of adjacent track sections.

The ball, which is designated by the numeral 36 in FIG. 1, is mounted upon the track and one plays with the game by rolling the ball along the track. The ball can be set in motion by placing it on a section of track that extends downwardly, as does section 21, or simply by pushing it along the track to start it rolling. No specific rules, no predetermined number of players and no predetermined circumstances are required in playing with the toy. Essentially the child using it simply conducts a series of experiments in which he moves the ball along the track and observes its progress in view of such variables as speed and track shape and curve banking that he has adjusted.

In FIG. 2, the ball 36 has its center of gravity at its geometrical center which is well above the construction line 38 drawn between the points 40 and 42 at which the ball contacts the rails and 12 of the track. The distance from the construction line 38 to the center of gravity varies as a function of ball diameter relative to the spacing between the track rails. The rails may have any of a variety of cross-sectional shapes. They are arranged so that the connecting member 13 which extends between them lies below the lowest point of the ball and is not contacted by the ball as it proceeds along the track. Advantageously, the rails have a cross-sectional shape which insures substantially the same degree of flexibility in the vertical as well as in the transverse direction. Moreover it is preferred that the bottom of the rails be made flat so that a larger surface is available for frictional engagement with the surface on which the track is laid. The amount of friction required is a function of the degree of resilience in the track. An adequate friction surface is required so that'the track will remain fixed in the position in which it is placed even though the track is twisted and curved. I

As hereinbefore indicated, in the preferred form of the invention the rails are readily removed from the connecting member and in the preferred embodiment the connecting member is formed of a difi'erent material than are the rails. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 4, the rails are pro vided with a groove extending throughout their length and opening at one side of the rail. The groove is formed so that its side walls are substantially parallel with the bottom of the rail and the groove is almost as deep as the rail is wide. This form of the invention the rail is formed with an internal bias tending to pinch the groove closed. This is readily accomplished by arranging the tooling to form a wedge-shaped groove as the rail is extruded. After extrusion the groove may be pried open to wall 52 thereof as shown in FIG. 3 is normally urged toward the lower wall 48 and IS prestressed to engage such lower wall when no insert 13 is there between. Incorporation of this prestress feature in the rail makes it possible to use connecting members of varying thickness. Also, it enables the youngster to cut out connecting sections of his own design to replace lost or damaged connecting sections or to fonn new curved sections without need to select a material of exactly correct thickness.

Although I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of my invention, I am fully aware that many modifications thereof are possible. My invention therefore is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A toy comprising in combination a flexible track and a spherical ball for rolling along said track; said track comprising:

a pair of rails separated a uniform distance apart along their length and joined by an interconnecting member which is flexible in the direction of its thickness and relatively less flexible than the rails in the direction of its width and length, one of said interconnecting members and said rails being resilient, each of said rails being fonned with an elongate slot of width to accommodate said interconnecting member in frictional engagement with the walls of the slot, said rails having an internal bias tending to urge the slot walls together to close the slot, the ball having a diameter sufficiently great to confine its rolling contact to the rails to preclude rolling contact with the interconnecting member.

2. A toy comprising in combination:

a flexible track and a spherical ball for rolling along said track;

said track comprising a pair of rails separated a uniform distance apart along their length and joined by an interconnecting member which is flexible in the direction of its thickness and relatively less flexible than the rails in the direction of its width and length, said rails being formed independently of said interconnecting member of a plastic material and having resilience and flexibility in one radial direction corresponding substantially to the resilience and flexibility in all other radial directions, each of said rails also being formed with an elongate slot opening at the outer wall of the rail and extending in a nonradial plane, said slot having width to accommodate the interconnecting member in frictional engagement within the walls of the slot, and the ball having a diameter sufiiciently great to confine its rolling contact to the rails and to preclude rolling contact with the interconnecting member.

3. The invention defined in claim 2 in which the interconnecting member is formed of paperboard and the rails have an internal bias tending to urge the slot walls together to engage the paperboard.

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