US3545757A - Racing toy having vehicle propelling and arresting means - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventors Sidney Tepper 24 Edgewood Terrace, Mlllburn, NJ.

[45] Patented Dec. 8, 1970 [54] RACING TOY HAVING VEHICLE PROPELLING AND ARRESTING MEANS 10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. CI. 273/86, 46/202 [51] Int. Cl. A63l'9/l4 [50] Field of Search...., 46/202; 273/86(0), 86(2), 86(3), 86(4), 86(8); 104/60 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,676 7/1925 Mantley. 1,729,049 9/1929 Olsen. 1,780,081 10/1930 Keiser. 1,909,505 5/1933 Rodman 273/86 1,958,563 5/1934 Brooker et al. 2,157,889 5/1939 Decker 2,218,164 10/1940 Carpenter. 2,767,986 10/1956 Newberry. 3,352,251 11/1967 Einfalt.

FOREIGN PATENTS 882,269 ll/l96l r l Britain.

558,969 3/1957 ltaly Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-Thomas Zack Attorney-Breitenfeld and Levine ABSTRACT: Two side-by-side tracks support rollable vehicles each of which moves around the entire track as a result of force applied to it during its movement along a propulsion region. A vehicle-driving member is located beneath, and moves along, each propulsion region in response to movement of a handle operated by a player. The driving member carries'a means, e.g., a pawl, for engaging and moving a vehicle on the track propulsion region. The driving member also carries a means, e.g., an abutment, for arresting or slowing the movement of a vehicle which moves on to the track propulsion region.

PATENTED an aim SHEET 1 1F 4 ENVENTORS:

M ATTORNEYS PATENTED DEC 8 I976 SHEET 2 OF 4 mmM/M/ I ua.

ATTORNEYS III/VAN P RACING TOY HAVING VEHICLE PROPELLING AND ARRESTING MEANS This invention relates to racing toys of the type in which rol lable vehicles allocated to different players movea'round two or more side-by-slde continuous tracks. A toy of this type is illustrated and described in copending application Ser. No. 802,365, filed Feb. 26, 1969 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,108.

The toy of the above-identified copending application is of the particular type in which each track is inclined in one direction for most of its length to define a downhill portion along which a vehicle moves by gravity, a relatively short length of the track being inclined in the opposite direction to define an uphill portion joining the highest and lowest points of the downhill portion. So that a vehicle can be caused to move along its track through successive unbroken cycles or laps, the arrangement illustrated in said copending application includes a vehicle-driving member or carriage slidable beneath each uphill track portion, The carriage carries a projection extending upwardly through a slot in the track portion for engaging a depending part of a vehicle, whereby upward movement of the carriage causes upward movement of the vehicle. A handle manually manipulable by a player is furnished, the handle being connected to the carriage so that movement of the handle is transmitted to the carriage, such movement serving to propel a vehicle along the uphill track portion. Once the vehicle reaches the top of the hill it is released, whereupon it moves around the track by gravity to the bottom of the uphill portion and, as a result of inertia, part of the way up the uphill portion.

If the player is skillful, he' moves his handle at a time such that the projection carried by his carriage engages-the depending part of his vehicle while the latter is still moving upwardly due to inertia. In this way, further propulsion is given the vehicle with a minimum amount of lost vehicle speed. However, should the player not accurately judge when to movehis handle, and either fail to move it or miss engaging the vehicle, the latter will slow down, then come to a stop on the uphill portion, and finally begin to roll backwards. This pattern of vehicle movement gives even a relatively unskilled player reasonable assurance that at some point his carriage projection will engage the vehicle and he will have an opportunity to propel the vehicle by moving his handle. I

It has been found that certain benefits can be achieved by eliminating the uphill and downhill track portions, and making the entire track flat or horizontaL'except for banking provided at the curves in the track. However, with the elimination of the uphill track portion, no particular track region is provided along which the vehicle will be caused to slow down and stop. As a result, the player has no assurance of being able to engage his vehicle once during each lap to give it a forward propulsion force. Instead, if the player fails to engage the vehicle as it passes over the track region provided with the vehicledriving carriage, the vehicle usually does not have enough inertia to carry it around another full lap, and as a result the vehicle either comes to a stop at a point in the track spaced from the carriage region, or it"falls off the track when it enters a steep embankment.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a racing toyhaving a relatively flat track, except for embankments, in Y which a vehicle is prevented from leaving a particular region of the track in the absence of movement of the driving member or carriage controlled-by the player to which that vehicle is allocated.

To achieve this objective, the invention, according to a preferred embodiment, provides an abutment carried by the carriage, the abutment'being spaced in front of the carriage projection. When a vehicle moves on to the propulsion region of the track, at which the carriage is located, it strikes the abutment and is arrested. The carriage can then be moved rapidly so that the projection carried by it engages the depending part of the vehicle and propels the later latter forwardly for another lap around the track. In response to carriage movement, the abutment moves out of the vehicle path. Of course, if the player is very skillful, it is possible for him to so move his cle never engages the abutment, but instead is engaged only by the carriage projection which gives the vehicle another forward burst of speed.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be I apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a racing toy according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the toy base;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary top view of the rearward portion of the propulsion region of the tracks, showing a partially broken away toy vehicle on one of the tracks;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3, showing the toy vehicle engaging the arresting abutment; 7

' FIG. 5 s a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the vehicle about to be engaged by the driving member;

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the forward portion of the track propulsion region;

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7 showing the vehicle being accelerated by the driving member; and

, comprises two side-by- side tracks 10 and 11 of generally elliptracks are also provided with outer upstanding walls 13 to prevent the-vehicles from rolling off the tracks.

The tracks 10 and 11 are generally flat and horizontal, ex-

cept at their curved end regions 14 which are raised tocreate inclined banks. The banked regions 14 are supported by stanchions l5 and the straight track portions are raised slightly above their support surface by skirts 9 depending from the outer side edges of tracks 10 and 11. At the center of one of the straight runs of the tracks 10 and 11 the latter are joined to a housing 16 enclosing the mechanism for propelling vehicles along the tracks. Thus, the portion 21 of tracks 10 and 11, to which the housing 16 is connected, is termed the propulsion region of the tracks, since it is when the vehicles are in this region that a forward propulsion forcecan be applied to them by means of the mechanism in housing 16.

.When the toy is in use, each player controls a mechanism for propelling his vehicle along the propulsion'region 21 of its respective track. The vehicle then rolls by inertia around its track, in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 1, until it reaches the propulsion region 21, at which point the player again propels his vehicle along the propulsion region. The player whose propels completes a predetermined number of laps or cycles around the track first is the winner, and the winner will ordinarily be the player most proficient at operating his vehicle-propelling mechanism. It may be mentioned that since track 10 is outside of track 11, in the present exam ple the two tracks are not of equal length. Hence, the player whose vehicle uses track 10 need complete fewer laps than the other player in order to cover the same total distance- If desired, the tracks could be furnished with two crossovers to equalize the lengths of the two tracks.

In the present embodiment, the housing 16 contains two vehicle-propelling .mechanisms, one being operated by the handle 17 and the other by the handle 18. Handle 17 is actuated to propel a vehicle l9, illustrated as a toy automobile,

along the propulsion region of track 10, and handle 18 is actuate to propel another toy automobile along the propulsion region of track 11. Each handle 17 and 18 is slidably accommodated within a straight slot 23 formed in the top wall 24 (see also FIG. 2) of the housing 16, these slots serving to guide the movements of the handles when the latter are actuated. The floor (FIG. 6) of the propulsion region 21 of each track is formed with a central longitudinal slot 26, and a pawl projects upwardly through each slot. As each handle 17 or 18 is shifted from its leftwardmost position in FIG. 1 to its rightwardmost position, the pawl 27 or 28, respectively, (FIGS. 2-9) associated with it moves from the left end of its respective slot 26, as viewed in FIGS. 1, 3-5, and 79, to the right end. Each vehicle 19 and 20 is provided with a depending lip 29 (FIGS. 4-8) adapted to be engaged by one of the pawls.

Thus, when the vehicle 19, for example, arrives at the left end of the propulsion region 21 of track 10, the appropriate player shifts handle 17 to the right so that the pawl 27 engages the depending lip 29 of the vehicle and propels it toward the right. Thereafter, the player moves the handle 17 back toward the left, returning the pawl 27 to the left end of the track propulsion region in preparation for again propelling the vehicle 19 for further counterclockwise movement around the track. To a great extent, the skill required in playing with the present toy involves the ability to actuate the handle 17 or 18 at precisely the right time so that the respective pawl smoothly engages the lip of the moving vehicle as the latter enters the propulsion region 21. In this way, full advantage is taken ofthe initial movement of the vehicle into the propulsion region due to its inertia.

The mechanisms for transmitting movements of the handles 17 and 18 to their respective pawls 27 and 28 are illustrated in detail in FIGS. 2-9. The two mechanisms are almost identical, and therefore except for the points at which they differ only one will be described. However, corresponding parts of the other mechanism bear identical reference numerals followed by a prime. Mounted on the lower face of each track propulsion region is a guideway 32 (FIGS. 4-9) defined by two parallel walls 33, which may be integrally formed with the track floor 25. Walls 33 rest on, and are secured to, as by cement, a bottom wall 34 which may be integral with the top wall 24 of housing 16. Formed in bottom wall 34, directly beneath and parallel to slots 26, are a pair of slots 35. The guideway 32 extends for substantially the full length of the uphill track portion.

Slidably arranged within the guideway 32 is a vehicle driving member or carriage 36 carrying near its rear end a transverse pin 37 (FIGS. 4, 5, 8, and 9) upon which pawl 27 or 28 is pivotally supported. A coiled spring 39 (FIGS. 4 and 8) surrounds pin 37, one end of the spring being fixed with respect to carriage 36, and the other end of the spring being secured to the pawl 28. The spring 39 normally holds the pawl 28 against an abutment portion 40 of the carriage 36 so that the pawl cannot rotate in a counterclockwise direction when in the position shown in FIG..8. Consequently, when the carriage 36 is moved along the guideway 32, this movement is transmitted to the lip 29 of vehicle 19 or 20 by the pawl. However, the pawl can rotate clockwise, against the force of spring 39, so that when vehicle 19 or 20 enters the track propulsion region 21, lip 29 can move past the pawl. In other words, when vehicle 19 is moving from the left toward the right, and the front face of its lip 29 strikes the pawl 28 rotating it clockwise, the upper end of the pawl moves toward the slot 26, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 4, permitting the vehicle to pass. The pawl is then immediately snapped into a position for engaging the rear face ofthe lip 29 by the spring 39.

The carriage 36 carries a depending pin 43 extending through slot 35 to which one end of a lever 44 (FIG. 2) is pivotally connected. Lever 44 comprises two telescoping parts, namely, an outer member 45 and an inner member 46 slidably arranged within member 45. It is the free end of extension 46 which is pivotally connected to the carriage 36.

The opposite end of the member 45 is pivotally supported on a pin 48 carried by a bracket 47 secured to the underface of top wall 24. Beneath bracket 47 is a horizontal plate 50, also mounted on the underface of top wall 24 by elongated pins 51, which supports another bracket 47' carrying pin 48'. It will be seen that since brackets 47 and 47 are located in different horizontal planes, levers 44 and 44 are allowed to swing, about pins 48 and 48 in different horizontal planes without interfering with each other. Since the distance between the pin 48 and the guideway 32, as viewed in FIG. 2, depends upon the angle of the line drawn between them, the sliding relationship between the members 45 and 46 permits the effective length of the lever 44 to be varied as the lever pivots about the pin 48.

A link 52 pivotally connects the handle 17 to lever member 45 and serves to transmit horizontal shifting movement of the handle along its slot 23 to the member 45. Lever 44 is thereby caused to rotate about pin 48, and via connection 43 move carriage 36 along its guideway 32. The arrangement is such that handles 17 and 18 may be moved horizontally, along their respective slots 23, through precisely the same distance, and levers 44 and 44' swing about their pivot axes through exactly the same length arcs, since the horizontal spacing between pins 48 and 48' is equal to the horizontal spacing between the slots 26 in tracks 10 and 11. Consequently, neither player is given any mechanical advantage which the other player does not also enjoy.

Speaking of mechanical advantage, it will be appreciated that since the pivot point 53 between link 52 and lever 44 is much closer to pin 48 than to pin 43, a sharp movement of handle 17 or 18 by a player produces a whipping action in lever 44, whereby a vehicle can be accelerated to great speeds along its track.

Since during play a vehicle enters the track propulsion region 21 at relatively high speed, a player without sufficient experience, or a player who is lax for a moment, may miss engaging the vehicle with pawl 28 of his carriage, due to manipulation of his handle at an inappropriate time or without sufficient speed. In consequence, the vehicle 19 or 20 may leave the propulsion region without having been given a forward push adequate to cause it to traverse another entire lap. As a result, the vehicle may either come to rest before reaching the propulsion region again, or may fall off the steeply inclined banks 14. Therefore, the present invention provides an arresting means for preventing a vehicle from leaving the propulsion region 21 unless the carriage 36 is moved by the player.

In the present the arresting means is in the form of an abutment 57 (FIGS. 35 and 7-9) carried by carriage 36. The abutment includes a head 58 formed of a generally L-shaped strip 59 having a vertical strengthening rib 60 (FIGS. 3 and 4), and a flat stem 61 projecting downwardly from the bottom face of the head 58. The abutment may be integrally formed, and preferably is molded from a suitable plastic so that it does not damage a vehicle which runs into it. Stem 61 is pivotally mounted on carriage 36, near the front end of the latter, by a pin 62. The upper end of stem 61 is slidably accommodated within slot 26, and the lower end of the stem is slidably accommodated within slot 35.

Abutment 57 is normally maintained in the upright condition shown in FIG. 4 by engagement of the bottom face of abutment head 58 with the track floor 25 on each side of slot 26. However, at its rightward end, slot 26 communicates with an opening 64 (FIGS. 7-9) in the track floor 25, the width of this opening exceeding the 112 of abutment head 58. The rightward end wall 65 of slot 35 is located directly beneath opening 64. Thus, when carriage 36 reaches the rightward end of guideway 32, the lower end of stem 61 strikes end wall 65, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 8 causing abutment 57 to pivot in a clockwise direction. As a result, the abutment head 58 drops into opening 64 and beneath the track floor 25.

, Along each of its sides, opening 64 is furnished with an inclined ramp 66. the spacing between the ramps being slightly less than the width of abutment head 58. Upon return movement of carriage 36, toward the left in FIGS. 7-9, abutment head 58 rides up the ramps and is thereby returned to its upright condition.

For the purpose of explaining the operation of the mechanism just described, assume that the vehicle enters the propulsion region of its track, and the carriage 36 is not moving as fast as the vehicle or is not moving at all. The vehicle will strike abutment 57 (FIG. 4) and be slowed down or stopped. If the carriage36 is then accelerated to a speed greater than that of th e vehicle, by moving handle 17, abutment 57 moves away from the vehicle and pawl 27 moves toward vehicle lip 29 (FIG. 5). This action is made possible by spacing abutment 57 and pawl 27 farther apart than the spacing between the vehicle lip 29 and the front end of the vehicle.

After engagement of the pawl 27 (or 28) and lip 29 (FIG. 8), the rapid movement of carriage 36 is transmitted to the vehicle, accelerating the latter. When the carriage 36 reaches the end of its stroke (FIG. 9), abutment 57 pivots out of the path of vehicle travel allowing the vehicle to leave the propulsion region 21. By means of handle 17 or 18, carriage 36 is returned to its initial position, raising abutment 57 to an upstanding position, preparatory to the next entry of the vehicle into the propulsion region. It may be mentioned that in the case of a highly proficient player, the vehicle may not strike abutment 57 at all. The player may time the movement of his carriage such that pawl 27 or 28 engages lip 29 of the vehicle before the vehicle can reach abutment 57. Thus, the abutment described above incorporates the distinct advantage of offering no resistance or hindrance toa skillful player, so that his vehicle loses no speed due to the presence of the abutment, while ensuring that a player of less skill or experience will always have the opportunity to propel his vehicle during each lap.

The invention has been shown and described in preferred form only, and by way of example, and it is understood, therefor, many variations may be made in the invention which will still be comprised within its spirit.

We claim:

1. A racing toy comprising:

at least two side-by-side continuous tracks, each track having a vehicle propulsion region;

a vehicle-driving member movably mounted beneath the propulsion region of each track;

means for guiding the movements of said driving member along a path parallel to the propulsion region of its respective track;

means carried by said driving member for transmitting movements of the latter to a vehicle rollably supported on the track portion above; separate handle means manually movable by each player; means mechanically connecting each handle to one of said riving members for transmitting the movement of each handle to its respective driving member; and

vehicle-arresting means located above the propulsion region of each track for preventing a vehicle from leaving the propulsion region in the absence of movement of the respective driving member by the player controlling that driving member.

2. A racing toy as defined in claim 1 wherein the vehicle propulsion region of each track is horizontal.

3. A racing toy as defined in claim I wherein said vehicle-arresting means is located in the path of travel of a vehicle along the propulsion region of each track, said vehicle-arresting means moving out of said path of travel in response to movement of said driving member associated with that track.

4. A racing toy as defined in claim 3 wherein each vehiclearresting means is carried by and moves with said driving member associated with itsrespective track.

5. A racing toy as defined in claim 1 wherein the propulsion region of each track is furnished with a longitudinal slot, and said vehicle-arresting means is an abutment carried by its respective driving member and projecting upwardly through said slot, sa'id abutment being movable with respect to its drivlng member, and said abutment being supported in the path of travel of a vehicle along the propulsion region of its respective track when its respective'driving member is located within a rearward part of said propulsion region and said abutment being permitted to move out of said path of travel when said driving means is moved to a forward part of said propulsion regram.

6. A racing toy as defined in claim 5 wherein each abutment is pivotally connected to its respective driving member, a lower portion of said abutment extending below its pivot axis, and means stationary with respect to said tracks for engaging said lower abutment portion during forward movement of said driving member to cause said abutment to pivot out of the path of vehicle travel.

7. A racing toy as defined in claim 5 wherein said transmitting means carried by said driving member is an element projecting upwardly through said slot at a location spaced rearwardly of said abutment, said element projecting above the upper surface of the propulsion region of said track and being slidable within said slot, and said element being adapted to engage a vehicle supported on said track region.

8. A racing toy as defined in claim 7 wherein said element is resiliently biased upwardly so that it can be moved downwardly by a vehicle engaging it from behind while traveling forwardly, but said element remaining in its uppermost position when engaged from the front so that it transmits forward movement of said driving member to the vehicle.

9. A racing toy as defined in claim 7 in combination with a toy vehicle having a depending extension adapted to be engaged by said element, the distance between said extension and the front of the vehicle being less than the spacing between said abutment and said element.

10. A racing toy as defined in claim 1 including a base sup- I porting the vehicle propulsion regions of said tracks, the latter track regions being substantially straight, and wherein each of said transmitting means includes a lever pivotally mounted on said base, each of said handle means being pivotally connected to its respective lever, each lever being pivotally connected to one of said vehicle driving members, and each lever including two mutually slidable parts, one of said parts being pivoted to said base and the other being pivoted to said vehicle driving member.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3, 545, 7557 Dated December 8, 1970 I fls) Sidney Tepper and Hyman P. Bo dman It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Page 1, left-hand column, after line 8 insert:

[73] Assignee Topper Corporation a corporation of Delaware SIGNED KN'D SEALED m2 197! Amt:

i mum E. sum, a Ancsting Officer 00m1ssioner of Estonia FORM PO-105O (IO-69) UscoMM Oc 60875.

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