Patent Application
20080268746
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to toy vehicles and, more particularly, to toy vehicles having a convertible or transformable design.
2. Background Art
Radio-controlled (RC) cars and trucks as well as free wheel toy cars and trucks, have been very popular with children of various ages over the years. However, a disadvantage of many toy cars is that generally speaking they are fixed in design and cannot be changed. This means that a child can often become bored with them after a period of time. Yet, many radio-controlled cars and other toy cars have a complex construction and have components which are complicated and are not easily adapted for building or changing components. What is needed is a toy vehicle having universally and easily interchangeable components such that a child may be able to convert or transform their own toys.
Attempts have been made to design toy vehicles with interchangeable components, however, the interchangeable modules for a given vehicle design can each have a distinctly different attachment mechanisms. For example, for a given vehicle, there can be multiple types of attachment mechanisms for the front bumper area of the vehicle and a totally different set of attachment mechanisms for the sides and rear of the vehicle. A more simple design is needed for attachments where the attachment mechanisms are more universal and easy for children of all ages to install.
Attempts have been made to develop less complex designs and with more universal attachment mechanisms, however, the designs are quite convoluted. A design is needed where the attachment mechanism is universal. Further, many attempts to develop a design that addresses this need has resulted in a design with a less than appealing appearance having unsightly holes or contact points at locations that take away from the appearance of the vehicle, particularly when an accessory is not installed. This is particularly important when the owner of the toy vehicle is concerned about whether the appearance of the vehicle closely mimics the appearance of a full size vehicle. Unsightly holes or contact points all over the vehicle negates the attempt to mimic the appearance of a full size vehicle.
Given that younger children are typically less dexterous than older children or adults, simple attachment mechanisms are needed and designs having a minimal number of parts involved in the transformation are needed. Although, younger children may lack dexterity, they still have a desire to have toys that can be transformed thereby giving the toy a different look and feel.
Further, the attempts to develop a design having interchangeable accessories and attachments have not provided mechanisms for transforming a given toy vehicle type to another toy vehicle type, such as for example, transforming an emergency response vehicle into another type of vehicle. A better design is needed that addresses the above problems with existing designs.
The invention is a modular toy vehicle design having a universal mating system between the main chassis body, including a front end of the vehicle and a rear tail end portion having a flat bed, and the back end body shell portion that is transformable such that multiple rear end body styles will interchangeably mate with one or multiple main chassis body designs, and where electrical interfaces can be automatically established between the main chassis body and the back end body portion simply by mating and aligning the two together. The design allows for an electrical connection to be established in the process of mechanically mating and aligning the main chassis body of a toy vehicle to its back end body portion thereby powering electronic features that are integral to the vehicle with the power source, which is housed in either the main chassis body or the back end body portion. When the main chasses body and the back end body shell portion are properly aligned and connected, the electrical interfaces can be automatically established and the body and chassis are automatically properly aligned. There is no separate step of plugging together mating connectors where one connector extends from a wire bundle electrically interfacing with the body and the mating connector extends from a separate wire bundle electrically interfacing with the chassis.
The main chassis body can have what can be referred to as a flatbed portion, where the flat bed can have opposing longitudinally extending substantially upright side edges where each side edge can have a recessed groove or track extending along its length. The back end body shell portion can have a cavity creating a forward and a bottom opening sufficiently large to receive the flatbed portion there through. The cavity can be defined by the interior of opposing substantially upright side walls, the interior of a rear wall and a top. The interiors of each of the opposing side walls can each have longitudinally extending raised ribs protruding inward toward the cavity and positioned for slidably engaging the rib within and along the recessed track. The raised rib can alternatively be one or more protrusions or tabs extending inward and where the multiple protrusions or tabs are aligned.
The present invention is designed for a business model where the toy vehicle main chassis body or front end, which can generally be referred to as the ‘front end’, can be sold separately from the back end shell portion of the body, which can be generally referred to as the ‘back end’, giving the customer a choice of several back ends for which to attach on a selected front ends. The vehicles can have built in working LED headlights and tail lights, and the power source can be housed in the front end or back end. The body can also have a sound initiation button such that when the button is depressed and the vehicle body and chassis are properly aligned, the initiation button will electrically contact a mating contact on the chassis to initiate a function, for example, a lighting/sound/motion sequence.
Traditionally, the connection between portions of the chassis and body are made by male and female connector clips which are attached to the power source and the wire leads for the lights, respectively. This is a practical solution for a business model where the chassis and body can be sold separately. This requires that the user be in direct contact with wiring and also results in loose hanging electrical wires within the vehicle housing, which can be unsightly and a potential shock hazard, and more susceptible to damage.
The purpose of the automatic mating of the power connector is three-fold; safety, aesthetics and, most importantly, to be integral with the proper alignment of the front end and the back end. The electrical interface can be established by capitalizing on the contact between the recessed groove or track in the edge of the flatbed and the raised longitudinally extending rib or protrusions. The recessed track and the protruding ribs or protrusions can have at least a portion of their surfaces that are conductive such that when the front and back ends are slidably engaged an electrical connection can be formed. The appropriate electrical connections can be made between each of the conductive surfaces and the respective power sources or components requiring electrical power.
The elimination of any exposed wires running from the power source greatly reduces the potential for shock. Also, there is no danger of shock by touching copper conductors on the male contact. The minimal number of interchangeable components, only the front end and back end, and the simple slidable connection mechanism provides a design that is easy to use. Please refer to the enclosed drawings for further details relating to this invention.
These and other advantageous features of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out herein below.
For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description presented herein are not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
According to the embodiment(s) of the present invention, various views are illustrated in
One embodiment of the present invention comprising a main body chassis having a flatbed portion and a back end body shell teaches a novel apparatus and method for a toy vehicle having a universal mating system between the main body chassis front end of the vehicle and the back end body shell such that multiple back end body styles will interchangeably mate with multiple main body chassis designs and where electrical interfaces can be automatically established between the body and the chassis simply by mating and aligning the two together.
The details of the invention and various embodiments can be better understood by referring to the figures of the drawing. Referring to
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One embodiment of a modular toy vehicle can comprise a front end simulated cab portion 102 and rear tail portion 104 making main body chassis 101, where said cab portion has a rearwardly exposed rearward facing rim 402. The rearward facing rim can have a specific contour. A flat bed portion 112 can be attached over a rearward chassis portion or rear tail portion of the main body chassis rearward of said cab portion. The flat bed can have opposing substantially upright longitudinally extending side edges 114, where each of said side edges can have lengthwise inwardly recessed grooves 116. A back end body shell portion 500 can define a cavity 506 with an opening having a forward facing rim. The forward facing rim 508 can have a second contour for matingly conforming to said first contour and said opening can be sufficiently sized to receive the flat bed there in. The back end body shell portion can have opposing substantially upright interior side wall portions 502 space apart on opposing sides of said cavity to receive the opposing side edges of the flatbed there between and said interior side wall portions each having inwardly extending protrusions 504. The protrusions are positioned and sized to slidably engage within and along the lengthwise inwardly recessed grooves 116, such that when the protrusions have traveled to the forward most portion of the groove, the second contour of the forward facing rim and the first contour of the rearward facing rim are adjacent.
Optionally the protrusion 504 can have a conductive surface that is electrically connected to items on the back end requiring electrical power. The protrusion can be sized to electrically engage the groove which can have a mating electrical strip there in for electrically engaging the protrusion. The electrical strip can be electrically connected to a power source located in the main body chassis.
The various modular toy vehicle examples shown above illustrate a novel design for a vehicle having interchangeable bodies. A user of the present invention may choose any of the above modular vehicle embodiments, or an equivalent thereof, depending upon the desired application. In this regard, it is recognized that various forms of the subject modular vehicle invention could be utilized without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
As is evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that the claims shall cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the sprit and scope of the present invention.
Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims.
