GB2200853A

GB2200853A - Diabolos

Info

Publication number: GB2200853A
Application number: GB08803129A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stuart Fell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-02-14
Filing date: 1988-02-11
Publication date: 1988-08-17
Also published as: KR890700376A; AU1246588A; FI884700A0; WO1988006050A1; GB8803129D0; FI884700A; GB8703485D0

Abstract

A diabolo comprises a relatively rigid central waist part (2) and a pair of hollow-shaped wing parts (3, 4) arranged symmetrically on each side of the waist part, in which said wing parts are of flexible material, the arrangement being such that the wing parts will colapse and absorb the impact in the event of a collision. Such a diabolo is safe to use since there is little possibility of injury should it go out of control and if it falls to the ground it cannot roll away, e.g into the road. Preferably the material is sufficiently flexible that the walls of the wing parts will distort and cause wobbling at a limited rotational speed, thereby reducing the possibility of going out of control.

Description

Improvements relating to Diabolos This invention relates to diabolos.

A diabolo is a spinning toy which is basically in the form of a cylindrical body comprising a central waisted part and a wing part of increasing diameter on either side thereof. The toy is used in association with a cord, or the like, strung between two sticks and the user rolls the diabolo with the cord to initiate spinning movement in a horizontal plane about its axis and the spinning speed is increased by up and down movement of an appropriate stick to impart more rotation. When the speed is sufficient, the diabolo becomes stable and many tricks can be effected.

Referring to Figure 1 a conventional known diabolo 1 is shown in which the central waisted part 2 comprises a circular running groove and the wing parts 3 and 4 are of conical shape. Up to now, diabolos have been made from solid material, mostly wood, due to the fact that they need to be weighty to sustain their momentum in use. A serious disadvantage, which has affected the popularity of the toy, is the fact that it has proved to be very dangerous when it is out of control. For example, the diabolo can fly off its cord and hit a bystander directly, or indirectly by bouncing off a floor or wall. Many bruises, broken teeth, etc have been obtained in this way. Attempts have been made to reduce this danger, by fitting rubber rings, or end caps, as shown at 5, onto the outer peripheries of the wing parts 3 and 4.Such modifications have not reduced, but instead have increased the danger, since the resilience of the rubber causes the diabolo to bounce off the floor or walls at greater speeds. A further danger is that the diabolo rolls easily and, if used by a child outdoors, could roll out into the road and tempt the child to run after it. More recently, diabolos have been produced in plastics, but here again they are relatively heavy, the wing parts having fairly thick hollow shaped wall sections of relatively rigid material, with enlarged lips around their outer peripheries for stability. These have been found to be just as dangerous in use for the reasons discussed above.

An object of this invention is to provide a diabolo which is safe to use.

According to this invention, a diabolo comprises a relatively rigid central waist part and a pair of hollow-shaped wing parts arranged symmetrically on each side of said waist part, wherein said wing parts are of flexible material, the arrangement being such that said wing parts will collapse and absorb the impact in the event of a collision.

Preferably, this material is sufficiently flexible that the walls of said wing parts will distort and cause wobbling at a limited rotational speed, thereby reducing the possibility of going out of control.

In one form, the waist part is of solid material, such as wood, or relatively rigid plastics material, which is shaped to provide the central running groove.

In a modified form, the waist part comprises a rod connecting the wing parts, the running groove being defined by the outer periphery of the rod between said wing parts.

Conveniently, the wing parts are formed from two halves of a flexible rubber or plastics ball.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, three embodiments will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the conventional diabolo discussed above, Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of said embodiments, and Figures 3 and 4 are side views, partly in section of the second and third embodiments.

Referring to Figure 2, in the first embodiment the diabolo comprises a central waist part 2 of solid material such as wood which provides a circular running groove 2a, and wing parts 3 and 4, which are of flexible rubber or plastics material, and are of hollow shape. In this embodiment, the wing parts are hemispherical and comprise a toy plastics or rubber ball, cut in half. The central part 2 is attached to the wing parts 3 and 4 by any suitable fixing arrangement, e.g by a nut 6 and washer 7 retaining its wing part against the central waist part 2. To improve the appearance of the toy, the wing parts 3 and 4 can be gaily coloured and/or patterned.

Referring to Figure 3, in the second embodiment the diabolo wing parts and fixing arrangement are similar to the first embodiment. However, in this embodiment the central part is a rod 8 of aluminium or other appropriate material threaded at its outer ends to receive respective nuts 6.

Referring to Figure 4,- in a third embodiment the diabolo wing parts and fixing arangement are a modified form of the second embodiment. Thus, a rod 7 is provided which extends between the wing parts and is threaded at its outer ends to receive respective nuts 6. However, the washers 7 associated therewith are provided with mutually, inwardly directed annular flanges 9, which extend through respective central openings 10 of the wing parts to support opposed plastics centre cheeks 11 of relatively rigid plastics material. These cheeks form part of said central waist, and are held spaced from each other by a spacer tube 11 fitted centrally onto the rod 8.

It will be appreciated that, apart from the choice of material and the wall thickness for the wing parts, their flexibility can be adjusted by altering the diameter (and hence the support area provided) of the central waist connecting them.

It has been found that the hemispherical shape for the wing parts is particularly advantageous since, even though they are made flexible, they neverless retain their shape well around their outer peripheries during spinning up to a limited rotational speed, after which their walls tend to distort and cause the diabolo to wobble, thereby preventing it from reaching a dangerous speed. It will, therefore, be appreciated that the limited rotational speed can be set by appropriate adjustment of the flexibility of the wing parts. However, in the event of the diabolo going out of control for any reason, the wing parts have been found to readily collapse against a bystander, floor, wall or the like and, thereby, absorb completely the impact of the collision. Also, because the wing parts collapse on impact, if the diabolo is used outdoors and falls onto the pavement, etc it will not roll away into- the road.

Claims

1. A diabolo comprising a relatively rigid central waist part and a pair of hollow-shaped wing parts arranged symmetrically-on each side of the waist part, wherein said wig parts are of flexible material, the arrangement being such that said wing parts will collapse and absorb the impact in the event of a collision.

2. A diabolo according to Claim 1, wherein the material is sufficiently flexible that the walls will distort and cause wobbling at a limited rotational speed, thereby avoiding tht! possibility off going out of control.

3. A diUbo'.o - according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the waist part is of solid a-aterial, such as wood, or relatively rigid plastics material, which is shaped to provide the central running groove.

4. A diabolo according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the waist part is in the form of a rod connecting the wing parts, the running groove being defined by the outer periphery of the rod between said wing parts

5. A diabolo according to Claim 4, wherein the wing parts are held spaced from each other by a spacer mounted centrally on the rod.

6. A diabolo according to Claims 4 or 5, wherein tn.

wing parts are coAnectea to tile rod via respective washers having mutually inwardly directed circular flanges which fit inò respective central openings in said wing parts.

7. A diabolo according to Claim 6, wherein the circular flanges support opposed relatively rigid centre cheeks which form part of said central waist.

8. A diabolo according to any one of the preceding Claims, -wherein the flexibility of the material for said wing parts is set by choice bf material, wall thickness and/or the dimensions of the support area provided by said central waist.

9. A diabolo according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said wi'ng' parts are formed from two halves of-a flexibile rubber or plastics ball.

1-0. - A diabolo, constructed, arranged and adopted for use, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 2, 3 or 4 of the accompanying drawing.