Dual Launcher Cocking System

Abstract

A dual launcher cocking mechanism whereby two toy guns are conjoined by a connector bracket that is attached to the spring loading linkage of each toy gun. Thus, the two connected toy guns may be rapidly cocked and fired by an alternating push-pull motion of the hands and arms.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to toy guns that shoot foam projectiles and the like, often otherwise referred to as launchers. A popular activity related to toy launchers is carrying two guns at once. This allows for double the number of rounds that can be fired before reloading is required. However, the play value is diminished due to the limited ability to cock each of the guns while both hands are occupied holding another gun.

In the case of carrying and cocking two separate launchers, this issue was addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,448,365 which describes a cocking system whereby a receiving loop is disposed on the handle of one gun to receive a cocking tab protruding from the spring loading linkage of another other gun. This is a solution for cocking two individual hand held guns. However, inserting a tab into a loop can be a slow and difficult task in the midst of play and only allows one gun to be cocked before having to shift the gun positions awkwardly. As such, this method does not allow for the rapid firing that kids enjoy. Importantly, this approach does not provide a stable, rigid connection between the two guns that allows the user to maintain the aiming of both guns while cocking and firing each of the guns in succession.

It can be observed that kids enjoy combining launchers to make a collection of several connected guns. Multiple launcher attachment methods are well known in the art. To attach one launcher to another, typical launcher toys employ connectors such as receiving rails, snap fits, sliding slots or similar fasteners. However, these attachment methods do not allow the beneficial ability to easily cock the two attached guns in a rapid manner while maintaining their aim toward the target.

In order to improve the firing efficiency and play value of dual launchers what is needed is a simple method of connecting two toy guns that is structurally stable and allows for repetitive spring loading and firing that is rapid and requires minimal effort while maintaining aim toward the target. In addition, the aforementioned dual launcher system must employ a trigger mechanism that is capable of firing without interfering with the cocking mechanism as it returns to its home position.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A dual launcher cocking system whereby two toy guns are conjoined by a connector bracket attached to the spring puller catch that drives the spring loading linkage used to cock and launch a projectile from each of the two toy guns. Thus, by means of an alternating push-pull motion of the hands and arms the two connected toy guns may be rapidly cocked and fired with minimal effort while maintaining aim toward the target. To allow unimpeded travel of the spring puller arm, the trigger catch mechanism of the present system is devised such that it does not interfere with the travel of the firing system as the spring puller arm returns to its post-firing home position.

Specifically, the present invention provides a dual launcher assembly comprised by a left launcher and a right launcher substantially aligned in the same firing direction and joined together by a connecting bracket. The connecting bracket consists of a transverse structure that connects the bracket to the spring loading linkage of each of the two toy guns.

Thus it is one object of the invention that two toy launchers are substantially aligned in a similar firing direction and joined by a connecting element.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the connecting element is a bracket consisting of a transverse structure.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the transverse structure of the bracket connects to the spring loading linkage of each of the two toy guns.

The joining of the two toy guns of the aforementioned dual launcher assembly allow the user to alternately charge and fire the spring loading mechanism of each launcher by means of a sequential push-pull motion of the arms and hands holding the trigger grip of each launcher.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the spring loading mechanism of the two connected toy launchers are alternately charged and fired sequentially by means of a push pull motion of the arms and hands.

In the preferred embodiment of the device, the connecting bracket is retained onto each of the toy guns by means of a cocking housing that securely fastens the connecting bracket to the spring loading linkage of each of the two launchers. This cocking housing may be securely fastened to the bracket with screws or alternatively snap fit together.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the transverse structure is fastened to each of the two toy guns by a bracket cap.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the bracket cap is fastened with screws.

Thus it is an alternate object of the invention that the bracket cap is fastened with snap fits.

In an alternate embodiment of the device, the two toy guns may be joined by a unitary connecting bracket attached in a manner that does not require a cocking housing. In this execution of the invention the entire bracket including the cocking housing that drives the spring loading mechanism are a single component assembled to the spring loading linkage using snap fits, sliding slot connections or the like.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the connection bracket may be a single component fastened using one of several common assembly methods.

Additionally, the aforementioned dual launcher assembly contains a trigger system comprised of a trigger that actuates a retainer latch connected to a spring puller latch in a manner such that the spring puller latch is retained to the retainer latch as it releases the spring puller arm, thus preventing interference between the bracket catch and spring puller arm catch as the spring puller arm rapidly returns to its post-firing position. In the present embodiment, this is accomplished by the addition of an angled locking latch face on both the spring puller latch and the retainer latch such that the actuation of the retainer latch draws the spring puller latch down providing clearance between the spring puller catch and the bracket catch as the spring puller arm travels back to un-cocked position.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the dual launcher has a trigger system including a retainer latch connected to the spring puller arm catch of the spring puller arm.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the retainer latch and spring puller arm catch have a locking latch face such that the actuation of the retainer latch pulls the spring puller catch down preventing contact with the bracket catch while firing.

To allow for retrofitting of existing individual launchers, the connecting bracket may be made such that one of the two halves of the housing comprising the cocking mechanism is removed from each toy launcher and the connecting bracket is assembled between the two launchers by attaching to the remaining male cocking housing and female cocking housing.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the joining of two individual launchers is achieved by fastening the existing male and female cocking housings to the male and female bracket receiver elements of the added dual launcher connecting bracket.

Of course, it is possible to design the connecting element to orient the two launchers relative to one another at any number of angles. Indeed that may be preferred by children.

Thus it is another object of the invention that the two toy launchers may be connected at an angle to one another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the connecting bracket with the transverse structure and the left and right attachment features.

FIG. 2 is a partial assembly perspective view of the connecting bracket attached to one of the two toy launchers.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the fully assembled dual launcher showing the hand held operation and back and forth motion used to load and fire.

FIG. 4 is a top perspective view showing the spring loading linkage in the cocked position comprised of the pneumatic firing system and spring loaded trigger latching mechanism.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF NUMBERED ELEMENTS OF THE ABOVE FIGURES

• • 1 Connecting Bracket 18 Cocking Mechanisms
  • 2 Female Screw Hole 19 Trigger Hand
  • 3 Male Screw Slot 20 Pulling Direction
  • 4 Transverse Structure 21 Pushing Direction
  • 5 Bracket Catch 22 Spring Loading Linkage
  • 6 Accessory Rail 23 Spring Puller Arm
  • 7 Female Bracket Receiver 24 Trigger
  • 8 Male Bracket Receiver 25 Spring Puller Arm Catch
  • 9 Partial Assembly View 26 Retainer Latch Face
  • 10 Screw Fasteners 27 Spring Puller Latch Face
  • 11 (Place Holder) 28 Latch Articulation Pin
  • 12 (Place Holder) 29 Pneumatic Launch Cylinder
  • 13 Left Launcher Plane A
  • 14 Right Launcher Plane B
  • 15 Male Cocking Housing C1 Un-cocked Position
  • 16 Female Cocking Housing C2 Cocked Position
  • 17 Dual Launcher Assembly

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that terms such as “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below. The present invention will now be described by referencing the included figures representing a preferred embodiment.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a connecting bracket 1 of the present invention includes a transverse structure 4 connecting to a female bracket receiver 7 and a male bracket receiver 8. These bracket receivers are so named due to the type of screw fastener elements that they contain. The female bracket receiver 7 has female screw holes 2, and the male bracket receiver 8 has male screw slots 3. An accessory rail 6 for attaching various embellishments such as a toy scope is also shown.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a partial assembly view 9 depicts the right launcher 14 having a female cocking housing 16 of the right launcher 14 connected to the male bracket receiver 8 by means of screw fasteners 10 through the male screw slot 3. Similarly, but in a mirrored fashion, the left launcher 13 is depicted having a male cocking housing 15 of the left launcher 13 that connects to the female bracket receiver 7 by means of screw fasteners 10 through the male screw slot 3 and into the female screw hole 2. Each of the launchers may for example be Nerf N Strike Elite Strongarm Toy Blaster™ commercially available from Hasbro in which the aforementioned male cocking housing 15 is shown partially disassembled from the connecting bracket 1.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the complete dual launcher assembly 17 is shown substantially comprised of the left launcher 13 and right launcher 14 connected by the transverse structure 4 of the connecting bracket 1. On the left launcher 13, the female bracket receiver 7 is attached to the male cocking housing 15. On the right launcher14, the male bracket receiver 8 is attached to the female cocking housing 16. The users hand 19 is shown holding the left launcher 13 (the right hand holding the right launcher 14 is not shown) Cocking of the right launcher 14 is achieved by pulling the left launcher 13 in the pulling direction 20 while simultaneously pushing the right launcher 14 in the pushing direction 21. This coordinated push and pull action can then be reversed, allowing the user to alternately spring load and fire both cocking mechanisms 18 of the dual launcher assembly 17.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a top perspective view of the spring loading linkage 22 shows the spring puller arm 23 in the cocked position C2 with the angled spring puller latch face 27 affixed to the angled retainer latch face 26. Cocking generally refers to the process of storing energy in a spring housed in the pneumatic launch cylinder 29 then used to provide a force to propel a toy projectile when the spring puller arm 23 is released. When the trigger 24 is pulled, the aforementioned angled latch connections and spring force in the spring puller arm 23 combine to force the spring puller arm catch 25 downward as the spring puller arm catch 25 rotates slightly along the axis of the latch articulation pin 28. Thus before releasing from the angled spring puller latch face 27, the angled retainer latch face 26 is retracted downward from the level of Plane A to the level of Plane B. In this way the spring puller arm 23 is free to rapidly retract and fire while the spring puller arm catch 25 is shifted downward to Plane B preventing the spring puller arm catch 25 from interfering with the bracket catch 5 of FIG. 2 as it travels back to the un-cocked position C1. If the spring puller arm catch 25 is not pulled clear of the bracket catch 5 of FIG. 2 in this manner, the spring puller arm catch 25 and bracket catch 5 will crash into each other and the firing motion will be impeded.

Generally then the foregoing described invention can provide a dual launcher cocking system whereby two toy guns are conjoined by a connecting bracket that is attached to the spring loading linkage of each individual toy gun. Thus, the two connected toy guns may be rapidly cocked and fired by an alternating push-pull motion of the hands and arms. By projecting the spring loading action from one hand held launcher across the connector bracket and into the spring loading linkage of the second gun, the rapid cocking and firing of the two guns becomes an action that is easily controlled with minimal strength. Additionally, in another embodiment the central connector bracket may be connected by two adapter rails each mounted to one of the toy guns which allows the user to quickly disconnect the two guns if desired. The adapter rails remain attached to the spring loading linkage of each toy gun and thus function as the bolt handle used for cocking of the individual guns if desired.

The above description has been that of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it will occur to those that practice the art that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. A number of different attachment methods and structures may be employed to provide optimal stability and ease of assembly and disassembly. Similarly, the toy gun launcher described herein is just one of many styles of launcher systems to which this invention may be adapted. All such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the spirit and scope of the present invention, are contemplated thereby, and are intended to be covered herein.

Claims

1. A dual launcher toy gun cocking system comprising: a left launcher and a right launcher each providing a spring biasing element for throwing a projectile forward along an axis, the spring biasing element communicating with a cocking slide movable backward to energize the spring biasing element to engage a trigger-actuated latch when compressed and prior to throwing, each launcher having a handgrip and positioned side-by-side; anda transverse connecting structure disposed between the left launcher and right launcher to communicate with the cocking slide of the left launcher and right launcher;whereby the transverse connecting structure allows alternate cocking of the left launcher and right launcher by a user gripping the handgrips with a left and right hand and exerting and alternating push and pull motion on the handgrips.

2. The dual launcher cocking system of claim 1, wherein said transverse connecting structure aligns the left launcher and right launcher to have substantially parallel axes.

3. The dual launcher cocking system of claim 1, wherein said transverse connecting structure is a molded plastic component.

4. The dual launcher cocking system of claim 1, wherein the said cocking slide is a sliding housing providing an outwardly open surface engaging and sliding along an outer surface of a housing holding the spring biasing element.

5. The dual launcher cocking system of claim 4, wherein said cocking slide is releasably attachable to the left launcher and right launcher.

6. The dual launcher cocking system of claim 5, wherein said sliding housing of said cocking slide is releasably attachable to the left launcher and right launcher using screws.

7. The dual launcher cocking system of claim 5, wherein said sliding housing of said cocking slide is releasably attachable to the left launcher and right launcher using resilient connectors snapping into engagement.