Claims
- spirals..]. 10. The friction driven toy according to claim .[.3.]. .Iadd.12.Iaddend., wherein said gearing means has a ratio of about 4.2 to
- 1. 11. A four-wheeled friction driven toy having a rotatable flywheel and front and rear pairs of wheels comprising a main body housing, and gearing means having a plurality of gears connected to said rear pair of wheels constituting drive wheels, said rotatable flywheel being disposed on a common shaft with one of said gears and providing gyroscopic action for enhancing the stability and balance of said toy, and said rotatable flywheel being disposed horizontally between said two pair of wheels of said toy; said rotatable flywheel is disposed adjacent the bottom of said toy in proximity to the toy's center of gravity, the bottom of said toy having a viewing window for observing said rotatable flywheel, and said flywheel being provided with a plurality of differently colored spirals. .Iadd. 12. A two-wheeled friction driven toy comprising a main body housing, a pair of vertically disposed wheels rotatably mounted in said body housing and lying in a common vertical plane in spaced alignment with each other to define front and rear wheels; a rotatable flywheel rotatably mounted in said body housing in substantially the same vertical plane as said wheels; gearing means having a plurality of gears and being operatively connected to at least one of said wheels, said at least one wheel constituting a drive wheel, said rotatable flywheel being disposed on a common shaft with one of said gears for rotation therewith and providing gyroscopic action for enhancing the stability and balance of said toy, said front and rear wheels being spaced from each other a predetermined distance selected such that the minimum distance between the peripheries of said wheels is greater than the diameter of said flywheel; said rotatable flywheel being disposed vertically between the peripheries of said two aligned wheels of said toy entirely within the space defined by the minimum distance between said front and rear wheels, with no portion of the flywheel overlying any portion of said front and rear wheels, near the bottom of said toy in close proximity to its center of gravity and being formed of a predetermined mass, thereby to provide adequate torque to propel said toy and aid in maintaining the toy in an upright position while performing wheelie maneuvers in a forward direction on only the rearmost wheel of the toy. .Iaddend..Iadd. 13. The friction driven toy according to claim 12, including means for enabling said flywheel to be visually perceived. .Iaddend..Iadd. 14. The friction driven toy according to claim 13, wherein said means comprises a transparent main body housing. .Iaddend..Iadd. 15. The friction driven toy according to claim 13, wherein said means comprises a viewing aperture in said main body housing. .Iaddend..Iadd. 16. The friction driven toy according to claim 15, wherein said aperture is provided with a protective transparent window. .Iaddend..Iadd. 17. The friction driven toy according to claim 13, wherein at least one side of said flywheel visible through said aperture is provided with a plurality of differently colored spirals. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 18. The friction driven toy according to claim 12, wherein said flywheel is made of a material having a greater density than the material forming said main body housing and said main body housing is made of plastic. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 19. The friction driven toy according to claim 12 wherein said common shaft is located in said housing at a predetermined distance from the axes of rotation of said front and rear wheels; the distance of said common shaft from the axis of rotation of the rear wheel being greater than the sum of the radiuses of the flywheel and rear wheel, and the distance of the common shaft from the front wheel being greater than the sum of the radiuses of the flywheel and the front wheel whereby the periphery of the flywheel is entirely located within the space defined by the minimum distance between the front and rear wheels of the vehicle. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 20. A two-wheeled friction driven toy vehicle comprising a hollow main body housing, front and rear wheels rotatably mounted in said body and lying in a common vertical plane in spaced alignment with each other to respectively define front and rear wheels, a flywheel of predetermined mass rotatably mounted in said hollow body on a generally horizontal axis for rotation in a generally vertical plane, said front and rear wheels being spaced from each other a predetermined distance selected such that the minimum distance between the peripheries of said wheels is greater than the diameter of said flywheel, said flywheel being disposed vertically between the peripheries of said front and rear wheels with no portion of the flywheel overlying any portion of said front and rear wheels, entirely within the space defined by the minimum distance between said front and rear wheels as low in said body as possible and in close proximity to the center of gravity of the vehicle; and gearing means in said body operatively engaged between said flywheel and said rear wheel, said gearing means including a plurality of operatively engaged gears, one of which is drivingly engaged with said rear wheel, whereby the rear wheel constitutes a drive wheel for the vehicle, and another of which is drivingly engaged with said flywheel whereby rotation of said flywheel simultaneously provides a gyroscopic action enhancing the stability and balance of the toy vehicle while rotating said drive wheel to propel the vehicle thereby to enable the toy vehicle to move forwardly in a "wheelie" position on only its rearmost wheel. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 21. The toy vehicle as defined in claim 20 including a shaft mounted in said housing, said flywheel being mounted on said shaft and said another gear also being mounted on said shaft for rotation with the flywheel. .Iaddend..Iadd. 22. The toy vehicle as defined in claim 21 wherein said shaft is located in said housing between said front and rear wheels in a predetermined position in close proximity to the center of gravity of the toy selected to position the periphery of the flywheel adjacent the bottom of said housing. .Iaddend.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 549,284, filed Feb. 12, 1975, now abandoned. .Iaddend.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
747034 |
Mar 1956 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
549284 |
Feb 1975 |
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Reissues (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
879157 |
Nov 1969 |
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