The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-032408 filed on Feb. 26, 2018. The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to a form changing toy.
It is a robot toy capable of mutually changing from the first form as a doll form to the second form, which is different from the first form, automatically or by a remote control. Further, it is well-known to provide a deforming means which changes from the first form to the second form, a deforming means which changes from the second form to the first form, and a moving means which is movable in any of the first form and the second form (please see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-144211).
However, in the aforementioned form changing toy, from the view point of movements, the toy only runs before and after changing the form, so that there was a problem of lacking interest factors.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the preferred described embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.
The disclosed embodiments of the present invention have been developed in view of the above- mentioned and/or other problems in the related art. The disclosed embodiments of the present invention can significantly improve upon existing methods and/or apparatuses.
An object of the present invention is to provide a form changing toy with interest factors by performing other operations after changing a form.
In a first aspect of the invention, a form changing toy is provided with a power source being configured to provide power, a first power transmission mechanism, a second power transmission mechanism, a third power transmission mechanism, a connection switching mechanism, and a form switching mechanism. The second power transmission mechanism is connected to the first power transmission mechanism to perform a first operation by the power. The first power transmission mechanism is configured to transmit the power from the power source to the second power transmission mechanism. The third power transmission mechanism is connected to the second power transmission mechanism to perform a second operation which is different from the first operation by the power. The second power transmission mechanism is configured to transmit the power from the first transmission mechanism to the third transmission mechanism. The connection switching mechanism is configured to alternatively switch between a first connection and a second connection. The first connection is between the first power transmission mechanism and the second power transmission mechanism. The second connection is between the first power transmission mechanism and the third power transmission mechanism. The form switching mechanism is configured to switch between a first form and a second form of the form changing toy. The second power transmission mechanism is configured to perform the first operation when the form switching mechanism switches between the first form and the second form. The third power transmission mechanism is configured to perform the second operation when the form switching mechanism switches between the first form and the second form.
In a second aspect of the invention according to the first aspect, the form changing toy is further provided with a cam. The first transmission mechanism includes a first gear. The connection switching mechanism includes second and third gears being concentric with an axis, where a number of teeth of the second gear and a number of teeth of the third gear is different. The second gear and the third gear adjacently provided to the second gear are engaged with the first gear. The cam is connected to and configured between the second and third gears to urge the third gear towards the second gear in a direction in which the axis extends. The first power transmission mechanism is connected to the second power transmission mechanism when a distance between the third gear to the second gear is the shortest. The first power transmission mechanism is connected to the third power transmission mechanism when a distance between the third gear to the second gear is the longest.
In a third aspect of the invention according to the third aspect, the form changing toy according to claim 2, wherein the connection switching includes a locking mechanism which is operated by the third power transmission mechanism. The locking mechanism is configured to lock the third gear in a position separated from the second gear, and configured to release the third gear when the third power transmission mechanism reaches a predetermined operation amount.
A fourth aspect of the invention according to the first aspect, the first operation is walking.
In the following paragraphs, some embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example and not limitation. It should be understood based on this disclosure that various other modifications can be made by those in the art based on these illustrated embodiments.
Hereinafter, embodiments of a form changing toy according to the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the drawings.
A form changing toy 1 shown in
As shown in
Further, in the power transmission system 10, the power of the motor is transmitted to the gears 15a, 15b, 15e through the gears 11a, 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b, 14a, 14b. By the way, the first power transmission mechanism A includes the gears 11a, 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b, 14a, 14b.
In this state, the gear 15e (selected gear) meshes with a gear 16a of a crank shaft 16. The gear 16a is provided as a part of the second power transmission mechanism B which operates the leg parts 3. At the both ends of the shaft 16, a disk 16b is formed, and an eccentric shaft 16c projects in the outer surface of each of the disks 16b. The second power transmission mechanism includes the gear 16a, the disks 16b, and the eccentric shafts 16c.
By the gear 14b of the first power transmission mechanism A, the gear 15a and the gear 15b are rotated, but they have different number of teeth so as to gradually occur the relative deviation. Therefore, the gear 15e is gradually moved against the urging force of the spring 15f by the cams 15c, 15d, and at the end, it is separated from the gear 16a and meshes with a gear 17a. The gear 17a is provided in a part of the third power transmission mechanism C. The gears 15a, 15e, the cams 15c, 15d, and the spring 15f constitute the connection switching mechanism.
In the third power transmission mechanism C, the gear 17a meshes with a gear 18a of a shaft 18 which is parallel to the shaft 17, and a gear 18b which is integrated to share the same shaft meshes with a crown gear 19a. In the crown gear 19a, a gear 19b is provided to the shaft 19, and the gear 19b is connected to a final gear 23a through intermediate gears 20a, 21a, 22a. The third power transmission mechanism includes the gear 17a to the final gear 23a.
In the aforementioned power transmission system 10, the power is transmitted to the second power transmission mechanism B through the first power transmission mechanism A, and therefore, the leg parts 3 are operated. At the timing which will describe later, the power transmission to the leg parts 3 is disconnected, and the final gear 23a is operated by the third power transmission mechanism C. Other components, for example, a neck part 4, a wing part 5, are operated through the final gear 23a. In this case, a timing is determined by the final gear 23a.
When the gear 15a moves against the urging force of the spring 15f by the cams 15c, 15d, the slide body 31 is also moved in the right direction of
When the cams 15c, 15d of the gears 15a, 15b reach the valley, the slide body 31 returns to the original position. It is provided with a lock piece 33 which moves in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the slide body 31 in order to stay at the moved position for a predetermined period of time (time until the final gear 23a is rotated by a single revolution)(see
Further, the locking mechanism 30 is provided with a lock releasing piece 35 which releases the locking of the lock piece 33. Of the lock releasing piece 35, one end 35a is engaged with the top end of the lock piece 33, and the other end 35b contacts to the projection 23b which is formed at the circumference of the final gear 23a of the third power transmission mechanism C.
By the locking mechanism 30, when the slide body 31 is moved against the urging force of the spring 32, the nail 33a of the lock piece 33 is inserted into the notch 31 so as to prevent the slide body 31 from returning. As a result, the gear 15e maintains a state of meshing with the gear 17a. That is, the first power transmission mechanism A maintains a state of connecting with the third power transmission mechanism C.
When the projection 23b at the circumference of the final gear 23a of the third power transmission mechanism C is operated, the top end 35a of the lock releasing piece 35 retrieves the lock piece 33 against the urging force of the spring 34. Therefore, since the locking of the slide body 31 is released, the slide body 31 is returned by the urging force of the spring 32. That is, the gear 15a is returned to the original state, so that the gear 15e is separated from the gear 17a and is meshed with the gear 16a.
That is, in this power transmission system 10, the power is transmitted from the first power transmission mechanism A to the second power transmission mechanism B, and with this, the eccentric shafts 16c are rotated, and the leg parts 3, which will be described later, move so as to walk. During that period, the connection of the first power transmission mechanism A with the second power transmission mechanism B is disconnected by moving the gear 15a by the cams 15c, 15d, and it is switched to the third power transmission mechanism C. This state is maintained by the lock piece 33. By the rotation of the final gear 23a in the third power transmission mechanism C, the lock releasing piece 35 is operated by the projection 23b. Then, the locking of the lock piece 33 is released, so that the gear 15a is returned. With this, the first power transmission mechanism A is connected to the second power transmission mechanism B again.
In the leg part operation mechanism 40, the front legs 41 swing by the eccentric shafts 16c which are rotated by the power. Such operation of the front legs 41 is transmitted to the upper parts of the back legs 42 through the connecting body 45, and the back legs 42 swing around the shafts 44. Therefore, when the front legs 41 swing in the front direction, the back legs 42 swing in the back direction.
By the way, in the leg part operation mechanism 40, the eccentric positions of the eccentric shafts 16c of the right and left front legs 41 are positioned with 180 degrees phase difference each other. That is, when the left front leg 41 swings forward, the right front leg 41 swing rearward. By repeating this movement, the form changing toy 1 moves forward.
In the form changing toy 1, a tail part swinging mechanism 50 which swings the tail part 6 right and left is provided. The front end of the tail part 6 is rotatably supported in the right and left direction by a shaft 51 as shown in
According to the tail part swinging mechanism 50, the right and left connecting bodies 45 alternatively move in the front and back direction, so that the tail part swings right and left by the rear end 45a of each of the connecting bodies 45.
Further, in the form changing toy 1, as shown in
According to the first neck part swinging mechanism 60, the connecting rod 62 extends and retreats in the direction of the neck part 4 in accordance with a shape of the cam 64. When the connecting rod 62 projects to the direction of the neck part 4 (left side in
Further, as shown in
According to the second neck part swinging mechanism 70, the lever 72 is rotated in the clockwise direction in
Further, when the connecting body 45b moves in the opposite direction, the lever 72 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in
Further, as shown in
In the wing part swinging mechanism 80, a disk 81 is rotatably held to the shaft 61. To the disk 81, a shaft 82 is rotatably provided, and on the shaft 82, a gear 83 and the base part 5a of the wing part 5 are fixedly provided. The shaft 82 is rotatably supported to a bracket 81a of the disk 81.
Further, in the wing part swinging mechanism 80, as shown in
Further, in the body part 2, a slide body 86 is provided. The top end of the slide body 86 is arranged to face the rear the end surface of the slide body 84.
On the other hand, one end of a lever 87 is supported in the vicinity of the final gear 23a, and the lever 87 is moved in a direction parallel to the lower surface of the final gear 23a. In the middle part lower surface of the lever 87, a pin (not shown) projects, and the pin is inserted into a groove cam 88 which is formed in the lower surface of the final gear 23a. The top end of the lever 87 is connected to the slide body 86.
In the wing part swinging mechanism 80, when the wing part 5 is positioned along the body part 2, the lever 87 is operated forward by the groove cam 88 of the final gear 23a, and as shown in Fig. 12, it becomes a state in which the top end of the slide body 86 is pushed forward. With this structure, the slide body 84 is pushed forward, and the rack 83a is moved forward.
In this state, when the lever 87 is retrieved (moved right side in
In the form changing toy 1 of the present embodiment, first, the power transmission mechanism B is operated by the power transmission mechanism A which is operated by the power (see
In the aforementioned form changing toy 1, the operation of the leg parts 3 is linked so as to operate the neck part 4 and the tail part 6. In this case, the up-and-down movement width of the neck part 4 depends on the movement of the connecting body 45 and the length of the lever 72, the shape of the elongated hole 72a, etc.
Further, in the up-and-down movement width of the neck part 4 which is operated by the cams 64, 88 of the final gear 23a, the open-and-close timing, etc. of the wing part 5 is determined by the shape of the cams 64, 88.
Further, the power switching mechanism in the form changing toy 1 of the embodiment includes two gears 15a, 15b which have different number of teeth meshing with the gear 14b of the input side. One of these gears (sliding gear) 15a is slidably provided in the shaft direction with respect to the shaft 15. The cams 15c, 15d are formed in the surface to which the gear 15a, 15b face each other. The output gear (selected gear) 15e and the gear 15a are integrated, and two gears (gear to be selected) 16a, 17a are arranged with an appropriate interval on the shafts 16, 17 which are arranged parallel to the shaft 15. By the cam function which causes the rotational difference of the gears 15a, 15b rotated by the input side gear 14b, the sliding gears 15a, 15e move in the shaft direction, and the selected gear 15e is separated from the gear 16a which is currently meshed, and meshes with the gear to be selected 17a.
By appropriately setting an interval of the gears to be selected 16a, 17a, the gear to be selected 15e is alternatively meshed with the gears to be selected 16a, 17a, and both gears 16a, 17a can be temporally meshed at the same time.
In the aforementioned embodiment, it shows an example, but it is needless to say that the operation amount of each component part, timing etc. can be arbitrarily set.
The form changing is automatically performed, and before and after the form changing, the operation changes, so that a form changing toy having unexpected interesting factors can be realized.
The positive cam is operated by two gears which have different number of teeth and mesh with the same gear, and one of the two gears contacts to and separates from the other one of the gears, so that a connection switching mechanism with a simple structure can be realized.
By the operation amount of the third power transmission mechanism which is different from the positive cam, the length of the second operation can be easily adjusted.
In the form changing, the operation of walking and other than the walking can be alternatively performed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2018-032408 | Feb 2018 | JP | national |