US715887A - Hobby-horse. - Google Patents

Description

No. 7|5,887 Patented Dec. I6, |902.

J. W. SMITH.

HOBBY HORSE lAppIication filed May 22, 1902.)

(Nvo Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. SMITH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

HOBBY-HORSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,887, dated December 16, 1902.

Application led May 22, 1902. Serial No. 108,446. (VNO model.)

To all whom, it may con/@Wm Beit known that I, JOHN W. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hobby-Horses, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to hobby or rocking horses of the class wherein the body of a horse is mounted upon an upright supporting device adapted to oscillate in a vertical plane against spring action when the child seated upon the horse-body throws his weight to one or the other side of thenormal upright position of the supporting device.

One of the objects of my present invention is to provide for ready vertical adjustment of the carrier on which the horse-body is mounted to adapt the apparatus for children of different heights.

Another object of my invention is to simplify, strengthen, and improve the construction of the whole apparatus.

These and otherl novel features of my vinvention will be hereinafter described,and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure l is a side elevation of a hobbyhorse embodying one form of my invention, the casing for the lower part thereof being shown in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a vertical section in part on the line x00, Fig. l, the horse-body being omitted. Fig. .3 is a transverse section on the line on oo', Fig. l, looking down; and Fig. 4 is a perspective detail, enlarged, of the foot and lower end of the lower member of the carrier.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a suitable supporting-stand ct, which may be of cast-iron or other material, is shown as provided with a rigid upturned standard a', bifurcated at its upper end and enlarged to form two opposite and parallel substantially circular cheeks a2, which constitute a bearing for the carrier on which the horse-body or similar device H, Fig. 1, is mounted, and a pivot-pin a3 is secured in the cheeks at their centers. The

carrier is made longitudinally extensible or adjustable in order that the height of the horse-body may be adjusted to children of different ages, and herein I have shown the carrier as comprising two members B C. The member B or lower member is shown as an elongated bar having flanges b at its longitudinal edges and on opposite sides thereof to form between them longitudinal guidegrooves 19X (see Figs. 3 and 4) to receive the member C, said member being bifurcated for the greater part of its length to present two separated and parallel legs c, which enter the guide grooves bx and slide longitudinally therein, the material of the member B between the ianges b entering between said legs. The member B is provided with a series of holes b', adapted to receive a pin or bolt c', which passes through oppositeV holes in the lower-portion of the legs o of the member C to retain the two members of the carrier in relative adj usted position. The lower end of the member B is shown as provided with a circular foot b2, (see Fig. 4,) havinga central hole b3 to receive the fulcrum-pin as, said foot being interposed between the cheeks a2 of the standard, and between the cheeks the standard is concaved, as at a4, (see dotted lines, Fig. 1,) corresponding in curvature to the periphery of the foot. The carrier'as a whole is thus adapted to oscillate or intersecting said fulcrum at right angles thereto, the cheeks cooperating with the foot b2 to firmly and securely support and provide a bearing for the carrier. If desired, the lower end of the carrier may be provided with a short segmental liange b4 on its opposite faces to ride upon the peripheries of the cheeks. I have shown herein a slot-and-pin limiting device to limit the amplitude of oscillation of the carrier, and I have shown a segmental slot b5 in the foot b2, concentric with its center, to be entered by a pin a5, passed transversely through and supported in the cheeks at the lower part thereof. The member C of the carrier has at its upper end an enlargement or head OX, on which the` horse-body is secured in any suitable manner.

Referring to Fig. l, the member B of the carrier is shown as provided on its fore-andaft edges with depending and diverging arms ,56, which extend from at or near the upper ICC free ends of suitable springs S, herein shown as leaf-springs rigidly secured by screws or other fastenings SX to the stand in front and at the back of the standard a', the springs acting in opposite directions and their force being transmitted by or through the diverging and depending arms bon the carrier to a point well above its fulcrum. Manifestly the normal tendency of the springs is to center the carrier and the parts mounted or supported thereupon in upright central position, (shown in Fig. 1,) and when the child is seated upon the horse-body he can by throwing his weight forward or back cause the carrier to swing in one direction or the other, the spring toward which such movementis directed being compressed while the other spring relaxes, and vice Versa. Relatively' light springs may be employed, and the movement of the horsebody will be easy, yet sufficiently lively or active to provide the requisite motion to the horse-body.

The lower portion of the apparatus is prefably inclosed in a suitable casing, and in Fig. l the casing M is shown in section as surrounding the springs and the bearing of the carrier, the said casing having an opening, as M', to permit the oscillating movement of the carrier.

The adjustment of the carrier vertically is readily and quickly effected, and the manner in which the two members of said carrier cooperate provides for strength and rigidity with lightness.

My invention is not restricted to the precise construction and arrangement herein shown, as the same may be modified in different particulars by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Pat-ent, is-

1. In a hobby-horse, a supporting-base, an oscillating carrier pivotally mounted thereon, a horse-body or the like secured to the upper end of the carrier, means to yieldingly and normally center the latter in upright position, and means to positively limit the swinging movement of the carrier.

2. In a hobbyhorse,asupporting-stand having a standard provided with a bearing, a longitudinally-extensible carrier mounted in said bearing to oscillate in a Vertical plane, a horse-body secured to the upper end of the carrier, oppositely-acting springs to coperate with and normally center the carrier in upright position, and means to positively limit the amplitude of oscillation of the carrier.

3. In a hobby-horse,a supporting-stand having a standard, bifurcated at its upper end to present two parallel, circular cheeks, a carrier having a corresponding circular and flattened foot interposed between the'cheeks, a

transverse pivot therethrough on which the carrier swings in a vertical plane, oppositelyacting springs mounted on the stand and cooperating With the carrier, to normally maintain it in upright, central position, and a horse-body or the like secured to the upper end of the carrier.

4. In a hobby-horse,a supporting-stand having a standard bifurcated at its upper end to present two parallel, circular cheeks, a carrier having a corresponding circular and flattened foot interposed between the cheeks, a transverse pivot therethrough on which the carrier swings in a vertical plane, a segmental slot in the foot concentric with its fulcrum, a fixed pin extended into the slot, to limit oscillation of the carrier, and springs mounted on the stand and oppositely acting upon the carrier.

5. In a hobbyhorse,a supporting-base,a longitudinally-adjustable,oscillating carrier pivotally mounted thereon, a horse-body or the like secured to the upper end of the carrier, diverging arms depending from the carrier above its pivot and in the path of movement of the carrier, and springs mounted on the stand in front of and behind the pivot respectively and coperating with said arms, to normally center the carrier in upright position.

6. Inahobbyhorse,asupporting-stand having a standard thereon, a two-part carrier pivotally mounted thereon to oscillate in a vertical plane, said carriercomprising a lower member havinglongitudiual guide-grooves on its opposite sides, and a slide member bifurcated to embrace and slide in the guidegrooves of the lower member, a device to maintain said members in adjusted relative position, a horse-body on the slide member, oppositelyacting springs mounted on the stand in front of and behind the standard, and means to transmit the force of the springs to the carrier above its fulcrum or pivot.

7. In a hobby-horse, a supporting-base, a carrier pivotally connected at its lower end with the stand, a horse-body or the like on the upper end of the carrier, the latter being oscillatable on its pivot in a vertical plane, leaf-springs on the stand and acting in opposite directions, and means to transmit the force of the springs to the carrier at a distance above its pivot, the springs acting to return the carrier to central, upright position when deflected therefrom.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses JOHN W. SMITII.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, EMILY C. HoDGEs.

IOO

IIO

Images