US3665610A

US3665610A - X-y plotter toy

Info

Publication number: US3665610A
Application number: US95662A
Authority: US
Inventors: Floyd E Schlau; Albert L Anderson; Eugene J Kilroy Jr; Alcwyn Flicker
Original assignee: Mattel Inc
Current assignee: Mattel Inc
Priority date: 1970-12-07
Filing date: 1970-12-07
Publication date: 1972-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 1989-05-30
Also published as: FR2117009A5; DE2106761A1

Abstract

A toy which enables a child to draw pictures by remote manipulation of a writing instrument, including a frame for supporting a sheet of paper, a marker holder for holding a writing instrument over the paper, and a pair of knobs which can be turned by a child to move the holder in each of two perpendicular directions over the paper. The marker holder is mounted for sliding in the ''''X'''' direction on a carriage and the carriage is mounted to move in the ''''Y'''' direction on the frame. When a ''''Y'''' knob is turned by a child, it rotates a pulley which moves a cord that is attached to the carriage to move it in the ''''Y'''' position. When an ''''X'''' knob is turned, it rotates a square shaft, and a pinion rotatably mounted on the carriage and coupled to the shaft then moves a rack on the marker holder to slide it in the ''''X'''' direction. A program in the form of a strip with rows of letters and numbers defining ''''X'''' and ''''Y'''' locations to which the holder can be moved, defines a picture that can be drawn by a child.

Description

United States Patent Schlau et al.

as] May 30, 1972 [54] X-Y PLOTTER TOY [72] Inventors: Floyd E. Schlnu, Palos Verdes Estates; Al-

bert L. Anderson, Los Angeles; Eugene J. Kilroy, Jr., Inglewood; Alcwyn Fllcker, Carson, all of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Calif.

[22] Filed: Dec. 7, 1970 [2 l) Appl. No.: 95,662

Primary Examiner-Leonard Forman Assistant ExaminerCharles E. Phillips Attorney-Seymour A. Scholnick [57] ABSTRACT A toy which enables a child to draw pictures by remote manipulation of a writing instrument, including a frame for supporting a sheet of paper, a marker holder for holding a writing instrument over the paper, and a pair of knobs which can be turned by a child to move the holder in each of two perpendicular directions over the paper. The marker holder is mounted for sliding in the X" direction on a carriage and the carriage is mounted to move in the "Y direction on the frame. When a Y" knob is turned by a child, it rotates a pulley which moves a cord that is attached to the carriage to move it in the "Y" position. When an X knob is turned, it rotates a square shaft, and a pinion rotatably mounted on the carriage and coupled to the shaft then moves a rack on the marker holder to slide it in the "X" direction. A program in the form of a strip with rows of letters and numbers defining "X and Y locations to which the holder can be moved, defines a picture that can be drawn by a child.

5 China, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEBMAY 30 m2 3,665,610

sum

2 or 2 IBTPB Mlez .ALCWYU F41 cKse l NWZNTORS an PLO'I'I'ER rov BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates to toy drawing apparatus.

2. Description of the Prior Art Entertaining toys are provided by machines that allow a child to manipulate a marking instrument from a remote location. Various devices can be employed to move a drawing instrument in two perpendicular directions, such as threaded rods that are turned to move a nut that carries the instrument, or a cable that moves the instrument when a child turns a pulley about which the cable is wrapped. However, in many of such plotting devices, it has been necessary for a child to turn knobs that are positioned at different corners of the apparatus, and that are therefore inconvenient to simultaneously manipulate, particularly in a large plotting device. A plotting device which allowed a child to move a marker in two perpendicular directions from a single station, would allow for fine control and therefore would allow the creation of better drawings.

It is generally more difficult for a child to control the movements of a marker that is remotely operated than it is for him to directly move a pencil, and the entertainment value derives primarily from the novelty of remotely moving a marker. If plotting apparatus were available which allowed children to draw attractive pictures that they might otherwise not be able to draw, then the entertainment of the plotter could be further enhanced.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a simple plotting toy which is easy to manipulate.

Another object is to provide plotting apparatus which allows a child to accurately draw attractive pictures designed by professional designers.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a simple drawing machine is provided which enables manipulation of a marker in two perpendicular directions by turning knobs located close together on the apparatus. The machine includes a carriage that can slide in a Y" direction, and an elongated marker-holding member slidably mounted on the carriage to move a drawing instrument in an X direction. When a child turns a Y knob, he rotates a pulley which moves a cord that is fixed to the carriage, to move the carriage in the Y direction. When the child turns an X knob, he causes rotation of a square shaft and rotation of a pinion through which the shaft extends. The pinion is rotatably mounted on the carriage and is engaged with a toothed rack on the marker-holding member to slide it in the X direction. The X and Y knobs are positioned at one corner of a rectangular frame and can be rotated about axes oriented about 70 from the vertical to enable easy manipulation by a child.

Both the elongated marker-holding member and the housing along which the carriage moves have scales to indicate the location of the marker, one scale having letters and the other numerals. A program supplied with the drawing machine contains a sequence of numerals and letters for a child to follow. If the child draws a picture following the program, an attractive picture will be produced. The picture can be designed by professional persons so that a highly attractive pattern is created. Not only can a child create an attractive pattern, but the mystery involved in determining what the picture will be like and the entertainment in drawing the picture to solve the mystery enhances the enjoyment which children can derive.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view of a toy drawing machine constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

but

FIG. 3 is a view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial view, partly in section, of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 with some parts shown in elevation; and

FIG. 6 is a view of a program which is useful in the machine of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 illustrates a drawing machine constructed in accordance with the invention, which includes a frame 10 with a paper-holding region 12 that can hold a sheet of paper 14 to be drawn upon. A housing portion 16 of the frame contains a mechanism for moving an elongated marker holder 18 in the X and Y directions so that the marker holder can move a pen 20 or other drawing instrument in these directions. An X knob 22 and Y knob 24 are rotatably mounted on the housing portion 16 close to one another and at one comer of the frame. A child can readily grasp both

knobs

22 and 24 and rotate them so as to closely control the movements of the pen 20 along the paper. It should be noted that while the X direction usually refers to the horizontal as seen by the observor, while Y refers to the vertical, the designations can be reversed, so long as the X and Y directions are substantially perpendicular.

The drawing machine can be used in several ways. The most obvious use is for a child to create a drawing by merely observing the pen 20 as he manipulates the

knobs

22 and 24. Another way in which the machine can be used is to copy a picture. To facilitate copying, a pointer 26 is mounted on the elongated marker holder 18 at a position spaced from the location of the pen 20. If a drawing to be copied is placed under the pointer 26, and a child manipulates the

knobs

22, 24 so as to follow along lines of the drawing to be copied, then the pen 20 will reproduce the drawing. Still another way in which the drawing machine can be utilized is to closely follow a set of directions contained on a program member 28 that can be mounted on the frame. The program of member 28 contains a series of coordinates to which the pen 20 can be moved in succession to create a picture previously designed by a professional artist.

As also shown in FIGS. 2-5, the marker holder 18 is slidably mounted on a carriage 30. The marker holder 18 is constrained to slide in the X direction relative to the carriage 30, while the carriage 30 is constrained to slide in the Y direction along the housing portion 16 of the frame. The marker holder 18 is driven in the X direction by a pinion 32 that is rotatably mounted on the carriage 30 and which is engaged with the teeth of a rack portion 34 that is formed in the marker holder 18. The pinion 32 has a square hole 36 that receives a square shaft 38 which extends in the Y direction. When the shaft 38 rotates, the pinion 32 rotates and drives the marker holder 18, The shaft 38 is rotatably mounted at its opposite ends on the housing portion 16. A bevel gear 40 fixed to the shaft is engaged with another bevel gear 42 that is fixed to the X knob 22. When a child rotates the X knob 22, the

gears

42 and 40 rotate, causing the shaft 38 and pinion 32 to rotate, and thereby causing the marker holder 18 to move in the X direction.

Movement of the carriage 30 in the Y direction causes the marker holder I8 and marker 20 thereon to move in the Y direction. As best shown in FIG. 4, the Y knob 24 is fixed to a drive pulley 44 which can move a cord 46. The cord 46 extends in an elongated loop parallel to the shaft 38, with one end of the loop extending around the drive pulley 44 and the other end extending along an opposite idler pulley 48. The pulley 48 is mounted at 50 to the housing portion I6 and the cord 46 is fixed at 58 to the carriage 30, so that as the cord 46 is moved along its length, the carriage 30 is moved in the Y direction along the frame. In order to take up slack, a spring 60 is connected in the loop of cord 46. It may be noted that the pinion 32 can freely slide along the shaft 38, although it is always drivingly engaged with the shalt to allow rotation by it. Instead of employing a shaft of square cross-section, a shaft of any constant non-circular cross-section can be utilized. Also, instead of using gear teeth on the pinion and rack, rubber surfaces can be used, although slippage is then more likely to occur.

As best shown in FIG. 5, the X and Y knobs 22 and 24 are positioned on opposite sides of the housing portion 16 and are oriented so their axes of

rotation

62, 64 form an angle A of about 70 with imaginary vertical lines 66, that is, with lines that are normal to the paperholding region 12. If the knobs were oriented to rotate about a horizontal axis, on particularly a vertical axis, then a child would have to twist his hand in an unnatural fashion in order to grasp and turn the knobs. While a child can readily do this, such twisting reduces his ability to accurately manipulate the knobs, and therefore decreases his control over the position of the drawing pen. By orienting the knobs about axes that are angled substantially from the vertical and from the horizontal, that is, by an angle A between about and 80 from the vertical, manipulation can be performed with the least twisting of the child's hands and therefore with maximum agility. The use of a gear drive allows the X knobs 22 to be oriented at any angle, inasmuch as it does not matter at what position the bevel gear 42 contacts the other bevel gear 40. The use of a pulley and cord drive enables orientation of the Y knob at a variety of angles, to permit a choice of angles that is most comfortable for a child.

In order to provide an accurate indication of the location of the drawing pen 20, an X scale 68 is printed on the marker holder 18 and a Y scale 70 is printed on the housing portion 16. The X scale 68 is formed by successive numerals while the Y scale 70 is formed by successive letters. As shown in FIG. 4, an X indicator 72 points to one of the numerals on the X scale 68, and as shown in FIG. I, a marker 74 on the carriage that moves along a groove 75, points to one of the letters on the Y scale 70. The provision of the scales and indicators facilitates use of the drawing machine to follow the program 28.

FIG. 6 shows a typical program member 28 which can be held on the housing portion 16 of the drawing machine. The program member 28 is a strip of paper with rows of coordinates printed thereon. In the illustrated program member 28, a heading 76 designates an initial position D 11." This directs the child to manipulate the knob so that the indicators 72 and 74 show the position D along the Y scale and the position 11 along the X scale. The first row 78 of the program contains the coordinates A 16 B." This indicates that a child should first turn the Y knob 24 to move the carriage down to the A" position, then move the X knob 22 so that the marker holder 18 is moved to the 16 position, and to then move the knob again so that the carriage moves up to the B" position. The rest of the rows of coordinates are to be followed in a similar fashion, from left to right in each row and from the rightmost coordinate in each row to the leftmost coordinate in the row immediately below it. The reason why each row contains three coordinates is that this allows every row that begins with a letter to be followed by a row of coordinates that begins with a numeral, and vice versa. The alternation of letters and numerals of the beginning of the rows reduces the chances of confusion, that is, the possibility of a child repeating or skipping a row. Of course, the same can be accomplished with any odd number of coordinate designations per row.

The housing portion 16 of the drawing machine is designed to facilitate the following of a program by a child. As shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus includes members 80 that form a slot 82 through which the program strip 28 can be moved. The space between the members 80 forms a window 84 which displays one row of the program at a time. A child utilizes a program by slipping the upper end through the slot so that the first row 78 of the program shows through the window 84. Afler moving the knobs to the three coordinate positions defined by the first row of the programs, the child shifts the strip upwardly through the slot 82 until the next row of the program is seen through the window. This continues until the program has been completed. The use of the window 84 reduces the possibility of mistakes and makes it easier for a child to keep track of the activity.

A drawing set may be supplied with a large number of program strips, inasmuch as they can be produced very economically. Not only is satisfaction derived from the creation of an attractive design, but the child also thereby learns what the design looks like. The program strips can be unidentified as to the drawing which they represent, so that the design can be discovered only by drawing it. The strips can be used in conjunction with a secret story or the like wherein a child essentially decodes a message or diagram by drawing it in accordance with the program. It is also possible to supply stickon scales to place over the X scale 68 and Y scale 70, with such stick-on scales having foreign alphabets, word-pictures, abstract symbols, or special coding symbols.

Thus, the invention provides a simple and easy to use drawing machine for the remote manipulation of a drawing instrument. The instrument can be utilized for free hand-type drawing, to copy another drawing, or to convert a program to a drawing. The use of a program not only allows an attractive drawing to be made, but allows a code that defines a diagram to be deciphered in an entertaining manner.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated herein, it is recognized that modifications and variations may readily occur to those skilled in the art and, consequently, it is intended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications and equivalents.

What is claimed is:

l. A toy drawing machine comprising:

a frame having a paper-holding region;

an X knob rotatably mounted on said frame;

a Y knob rotatably mounted on said frame;

a shaft of non-circular cross-section rotatably mounted on said frame and coupled to said X knob to be rotated by it;

a carriage mounted to slide along said frame parallel to said shaft;

pinion means engaged with said shaft to be rotated by it and coupled to said carriage to move with it in a direction parallel to said shafi;

an elongated holder member slidably engaged with said carriage to move with it while enabling sliding perpendicular to the length of said shaft, said holder member including means for holding a writing instrument to move it over said paper holding region;

rack means on said holder member, said rack means coupled to said pinion means for sliding said holder member in response to rotation of said pinion means;

a drive pulley rotatably mounted on said frame and coupled to said Y knob to be rotated by it; and

cord means extending in an elongated loop parallel to said shaft, one end of said loop extending about said drive pulley, and said cord means fixed to said carriage to drive it.

2. The toy drawing machine described in claim I wherein:

said frame includes an elongated housing portion extending above the level of said paper-holding region; and

said X and Y knobs are rotatably mounted on opposite sides of said housing portion, the axis of rotation of each of said knobs forming acute angles between 20 and with imaginary lines that are normal to the plane of said paperholding region.

3. The toy drawing machine described in claim I wherein:

said means for holding a writing instrument is located at one end of said holder member; and including pointer means mounted at an end of said holder member opposite said instrument holding means, whereby to enable copying of drawings.

4. The toy drawing machine described in claim 1 including:

a program in the form of a strip containing coordinate designations; and

means on said frame for holding said program including walls defining a slot for closely receiving said strip program while allowing it to be slid therethrough.

5. The toy drawing instrument described in claim I includmg:

a first scale mounted on said holder member to indicate the X coordinate position thereof, said first scale including a series of number coordinates;

plurality of rows beginning with a letter and rows therebetween beginning with a number, and each of said plurality of rows containing an odd plurality of coordinates.

Claims

1. A toy drawing machine comprising: a frame having a paper-holding region; an X knob rotatably mounted on said frame; a Y knob rotatably mounted on said frame; a shaft of non-circular cross-section rotatably mounted on said frame and coupled to said X knob to be rotated by it; a carriage mounted to slide along said frame parallel to said shaft; pinion means engaged with said shaft to be rotated by it and coupled to said carriage to move with it in a direction parallel to said shaft; an elongated holder member slidably engaged with said carriage to move with it while enabling sliding perpendicular to the length of said shaft, said holder member including means for holding a writing instrument to move it over said paper holding region; rack means on said holder member, said rack means coupled to said pinion means for sliding said holder member in response to rotation of said pinion means; a drive pulley rotatably mounted on said frame and coupled to said Y knob to be rotated by it; and cord means extending in an elongated loop parallel to said shaft, one end of said loop extending about said drive pulley, and said cord means fixed to said carriage to drive it.

2. The toy drawing machine described in claim 1 wherein: said frame includes an elongated housing portion extending above the level of said paper-holding region; and said X and Y knobs are rotatably mounted on opposite sides of said housing portion, the axis of rotation of each of said knobs forming acute angles between 20* and 80* with imaginary lines that are normal to the plane of said paper-holding region.

3. The toy drawing machine described in claim 1 wherein: said means for holding a writing instrument is located at one end of said holder member; and including pointer means mounted at an end of said holder member opposite said instrument holding means, whereby to enable copying of drawings.

4. The toy drawing machine described in claim 1 including: a program in the form of a strip containing coordinate designations; and means on said frame for holding said program including walls defining a slot for closely receiving said strip program while allowing it to be slid therethrough.

5. The toy drawing instrument described in claim 1 including: a first scale mounted on said holder member to indicate the X coordinate position thereof, said first scale including a series of number coordinates; a second scale mounted on said frame adjacent said carriage normal to said first scale to indicate the Y coordinate position of said holder member, said second scale including a series of letter coordinates; and a strip program having a plurality of rows of coordinates, designating steps of a program, every other one of said plurality of rows beginning with a letter and rows therebetween beginning with a number, and each of said plurality of rows containing an odd plurality of coordinates.