RIDE-ON TOY WITH VELOCIPEDE FRAME
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to ride-on toys with velocipede frames for young children, and more particularly to ride-on toys with velocipede frames designed to simulate horses and other animals and supported by a velocipede frame of the seesaw type to permit seesawing of a saddle, and mounted on wheels for rolling.
Description of the Prior Art
Particularly, the present invention relates to a structural improvement of "a ride-on toy with a velocipede frame" disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 925492, owned by this applicant. A problem of the ride-on toy disclosed in the above Korean utility model is resided in that it has a complex and heavy construction. In accordance with an experimental manufacture and a trial ride of the above known ride-on toy, it is noted that this ride-on toy should have such heavy weight that it can be operated only by at least ten years old children. Thus, it is apparent that this known ride-on toy is not suitable for younger children, that is, three to six years old children who are conventionally regarded as children attaining the suitable age for riding such ride-on toys with velocipede frames.
Furthermore, the complex and heavy construction of the known ride-on toy inevitably results in additional problem in that it increases the manufacturing cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a ride-on toy with a velocipede frame in which the aforementioned problems can be overcome and which has such simple and light construction that it can be easily operated by three to six years old children attaining the suitable age for riding such a ride-on toy, and reduces the manufacturing cost.
In order to accomplish the above object, a ride-on toy with a velocipede frame in accordance with the present invention comprises a forward and backward turnable handle shaft, a pair of main frames connected to the handle shaft, and a saddle body, a curved lever extending backwards from a lower section of the handle shaft, a lever shaft hinged to and crossing with center portions of the main frames, a rear axle supporting a pair of rear wheels at its both ends and crossing with rear sections of the main frames and being provided at its center portion with first and second unidirectional sprockets, the sprockets being spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, a seesaw type lifting frame fixed to a center portion of the lever shaft and having a front connection beam being coupled to a rear end of the curved lever of the handle shaft by a link,
first and second arcuate operating members connected to each other at their upper ends by a connection member and in turn connected to a rear section of the lifting frame by a hinge pin, each of the operating members having a plurality of engaging holes longitudinally spaced out at regular intervals, the engaging holes of the first operating member engaging with teeth of a front section of the first unidirectional sprocket, the engaging holes of the second operating member engaging with teeth of a rear section of the second unidirectional sprocket, and a link mounted on a rear end of the lifting frame and hinged to a lower surface of the saddle body.
The ride-on toy of this invention may further comprise a brake unit comprising a back support member hinged to an inside section of the saddle body by a hinge shaft and protruding from the saddle body, each of lower ends of the back support member extending downwardly and constituting a brake lever, the brake lever coming into contact with one of the rear axle and rear wheel when the back support member leans back about the hinge shaft, thus to achieve a braking operation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a ride-on toy with a velocipede frame in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figs. 2A and 2B are perspective view of a velocipede frame of the ride-on toy in accordance with a primary embodiment of the present invention, respectively, showing operations of the velocipede frame, in which:
Fig. 2A shows a lifting frame placed on its descending position;
and
Fig. 2B shows the lifting frame placed on its lifted position;
Figs. 3A and 3B are side views of the velocipede frame corresponding to Figs. 2A and 2B, respectively;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a velocipede frame of the ride-on toy in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, added with a brake unit; and
Fig. 5 is a side view of the velocipede frame of Fig.
4, showing a braking operation of the brake unit.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference to Fig. 1, there is shown a ride-on toy with a velocipede frame in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The ride-on toy of this invention is designed to simulate, for example, a horse and supported by a seesaw type velocipede frame to permit seesawing of a saddle of a horse body, and mounted on wheels for rolling.
Figs. 2A, 2B, 3A and SB show a velocipede frame of the ride-on toy in accordance with a primary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in these drawings, a handle shaft 1, having a pair of handle grips 11 at its both ends, is coupled at its lower center to a handle shaft bush 2 which has a curved lever 21 extending backwards from the bush 2. This handle shaft bush 2 is provided with a cross hinge shaft which is hinged at its both ends to upward bent sections 31 of a pair of main frames 27 through individual hinge connections 22 such that the handle shaft 1 as well as the handle shaft bush 2 is levered about the hinge connections 22 forward and backward. Between the upward bent sections 31 of the main frames 27, a handle shaft coupling bush 33 integrally extends.
A it-shaped supporter 34 for rotatably supporting a front wheel is connected between the upward bent sections of the main frames 31 at a portion below the coupling bush 33. Each of the rear sections 32 of the main frames 31 is bent outwardly. The main frames 31 further include individual fixing pins 35 for mounting the horse body 100 on the frames 31.
A lever shaft 4 is hinged to and crosses with the center portions of the main frames 31, and a rear axle 5, supporting a pair of rear wheels at its both ends, crosses with the outward bent rear sections 32 of the frames 27. A seesaw type lifting frame 7 is fixed to the center portion of the lever shaft 4. The rear axle 5 is provided at its center with a pair of unidirectional sprockets, that is, a first sprocket 51A and a second sprocket 51B spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. A link 6 is coupled to the rear end of the lever 21 and linked to the front end of a front connection beam 71 of the lifting frame 7. The lifting frame 7 also has a pair of arcuate operating members, that is, a first arcuate operating member 52A and a second arcuate operating member 52B which are hinged to the frame 7 and each has a plurality of engaging holes 52.
The plurality of engaging holes 52 of each of the operating members 52A and 52B are longitudinally spaced out at regular intervals. Especially, the plurality of engaging holes 52 of the first operating member 52A engage with teeth of the front section of the first sprocket 51A while the plurality of engaging holes 52 of the second operating member 52B engage with teeth of the rear section of the second sprocket 51B. The first and second operating members 51A and 51B are connected to each other at their upper ends by a connection member 53 which is in turn hinged to the lifting frame 7 by a hinge pin 54 as best seen in Fig. 2B. The lifting frame 7 further includes a link 72 which is mounted on the rear end of the frame 7 and hinged to a lower section of a saddle of the horse body 100.
In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, the velocipede frame of the ride-on toy may be provided with a brake unit as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In the second embodiment, the general shape of the velocipede frame remains the same as in the primary embodiment described above, but the brake unit is added to the velocipede frame for braking the rolling ride-on toy as occasion demands. The brake unit comprises a reversed Ushaped back support member 8 which is hinged to the inside section of the horse body 100 by a pair of hinge shafts 81 (see Fig. 4) and protrudes from the horse body 100 behind the saddle as shown in Fig. 1.
In the present invention, the hinge connection of the back support member 8 to the horse body 100 may be achieved by hinging the hinge shafts 81 of the support member 8 to the hinged section where the link 72 of the lifting frame 7 is hinged to the lower section of the saddle of the horse body 100. In the second embodiment, the lower ends of the back support member 8 are bent outwardly and in turn bent downwardly such that they constitute crank-shaped brake levers 82 as best seen in Fig.
4 and selectively come into contact with rear sections of individual rear wheels to brake them as shown in Fig. 5.
However, the brake levers 82 of the back support member 8 may be in the form of straight levers for braking the rear axle 5 instead of the rear wheels. In order to prevent the interference between the back support member 8, which intends to lever with respect to the horse body 100, and the horse body 100, from which the upper section of the back support member 8 protrudes, a pair of longitudinal holes 101 are formed at the horse body 100 and receive the back support member 8 as shown in Fig. 1.
The operational effect of the ride-on toy with velocipede frame described above will be given hereinbelow.
In order to drive the toy, the handles 11 at the state shown in Figs. 2A and 3A are pulled to cause the curved lever 21 to turn clockwise about the hinge connections 22.
The clockwise turning operation of the curved lever 21 presses down the front end of the connection beam 71 of the lifting frame 7, which is linked to the rear end'of the curved lever 21 by the link 6. Thus, the connection beam 71 and the lifting frame 7, which are integrally formed together and descends to the lever shaft 4 with an inclination angle therebetween, are turned counterclockwise about the lever shaft 4 as shown in Figs. 2B and 3B. Such a counterclockwise turning operation causes the lifting frame 7 to be lifted together with the saddle of the horse body 100.
At this time, the first operating member 52A coupled to the lifting frame 7 by the hinge pin 54 runs idle under the condition that it engages with the teeth of the front section of the first sprocket 51A. However, the second operating member 52B engaging with the teeth of the rear section of the second sprocket 51B rotates this second sprocket 51B counterclockwise and, as a result, rotates the axle 5. Thus, the rear wheels are rotated to run forward the ride-on toy.
Thereafter, when the handles 11 at the state shown in
Figs. 2B and 3B are pushed forward, the lifting frame 7 and the connection beam 71 turn clockwise about the lever shaft 4 in a reversed manner to that described above, so that the rear section of the lifting frame 7 descends. Thus, the second operating member 52B runs idle under the condition that it engages with the second sprocket 51B, while the first operating member 52A engaging with the first sprocket 51A rotates this first sprocket 51A counterclockwise and, as a result, rotates the axle 5. Thus, the rear wheels are rotated to run forward the ride-on toy.
At this time, the lifting frame 7 is fixed to the center portion of the lever shaft 4, so that the lever shaft 4 turns at the same time of the turning operation of the lifting frame 7. Otherwise stated, when the lifting frame 7 is placed at the descending position as shown in Fig. 2A, the pedals of the lever shaft 4 are placed at their lifted positions and, as a result, can be pushed down by feet of the rider. This pushing force applied on the pedals of the lever shaft 4 adds the counterclockwise turning operation of the lifting frame 7.
From the above description, it will be apparent that the ride-on toy of this invention continuously generates a forward running force while seesawing the saddle of the horse body 100.
Meanwhile, it has been noted that peoples, especially children, unconsciously lean back when they ride vehicles and want to abruptly stop the running vehicles. The brake unit comprising the back support member 8 shown in Figs. 4 and 5 uses the aforementioned human physiological phenomenon. Otherwise stated, when a riding child wants to abruptly stop the rolling toy, he unconsciously leans back and this makes the back support member 8 protruding from the horse body 100 turn clockwise about the hinge shaft 81, which is hinged to the inside section of the horse body 100 or to the hinged section where the link 72 of the lifting frame 7 is hinged to the lower section of the saddle of the horse body 100. Hence, the brake levers 82 come into close contact with the rear axle 5 or with the rear wheels, thereby achieving a desired braking operation.
As described above, a ride-on toy with a velocipede frame of the present invention provides a horse riding feeling and has such simple and light construction that it can be easily operated by three to six years old children attaining the suitable age for riding such a ride-on toy, and reduces the manufacturing cost.
Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.