Patent Application
20090253348
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a joint structure of a toy, and in particular, a joint structure of a toy to enable members connected to each other to be in a state locked with each other and in a state free of each other.
2. Description of Related Art
There is an animal toy, etc., where an arm section, leg section, etc. are swingably supported with respect to a body section. For example, a rotating plate is provided to the body section, a shaft is installed upright at an eccentric position of the rotating plate, the shaft is rotatably fitted in the leg section and a portion of the leg section is linked with respect to the body section to move the leg section to the front and back (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-265870, FIG. 2 to FIG. 5).
With the joint structure as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-265870, when the toy is not moved and displayed as a figure, the leg portion can only be rotated on a certain plane with respect to the body section, and the posture with respect to the body section is limited.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and it is one of main objects to provide a joint structure of a toy to allow a toy to take a posture freely when the toy is placed as a figure.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a joint structure of a toy including:
a first block and a second block to structure the toy;
a ball joint including:
an engaging section structured to be able to engage and release the first block and the ball joint by hand to hold the ball portion at the predetermined position when in an engaged state and to allow the ball portion to move to the separated position when in a released state.
The above and other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the appended drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention, and wherein:
A joint structure of a toy of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
A toy shown in
Here, the structure of the base section A of the leg section 2 of the robot toy 1 is described.
As shown in
On the disk 5, a ball portion 11 composing one side of a ball joint is mounted to a position eccentric from the rotating shaft 4. A shaft 6 is provided on the ball portion 11 and the shaft 6 is inserted in a shaft hole provided in the disk 5.
On the shaft 6, a large diameter stopper 9 is formed at an end section opposite the above-described ball portion 11, and a circular projection (engaging section) 7 is provided on a circumferential face in an intermediate section in a shaft line direction.
On the other hand, the shaft hole is broadly divided between a small diameter shaft hole portion and a large diameter shaft hole portion 10, and a circular concave section (engaging section) 8 is formed in the small diameter shaft hole portion.
The circular projection 7 of the shaft 6 is fit in the circular concave section 8 of the shaft hole and the stopper 9 of the shaft 6 is set in the large diameter shaft hole portion 10 of the shaft hole. This state is the proper position of the ball portion 11. Here, the proper position is the position taken by the robot toy 1 when it is in its original form. When the shaft 6 is in this position, the ball portion 11 takes the “predetermined position” described in claim 1.
In the present embodiment, the shaft 6 can move in the shaft line direction. At least a portion of the circumferential wall of the shaft hole from the circular concave section 8 to the shaft hole opening has elasticity to enable the shaft 6 to move.
Incidentally, the above-described stopper 9 has a function to prevent the shaft 6 from separating from the disk 5.
The ball portion 11 of the tip of the shaft 6 is accommodated in a ball shaped bearing (ball shaped accommodating section) 12 formed on the leg section 3 composing the other side of the ball joint. The side of the opening of the ball shaped bearing 12 is a hole opening widening.
Also, a guide rod (engaging section) 13 is rotatably provided by the shaft 14 on the body section 2. On the other hand, a guide piece (engaging section) 16 including a slit 15 is installed upright on the top edge section of the leg section 3. The slit 15 of the guide piece 16 is fitted to the guide rod 13.
As a result, in the robot toy 1, when the rotating axis 4 is rotatably driven by motor power, the disk 5 is rotated and the power is transmitted through the shaft 6 and the ball 11 to swing the leg section 3. At this time, the guide piece 16 moves up and down while being restricted by the guide rod 13.
Next, the operation of the joint structure of the present embodiment will be described.
As shown in
Then, the guide rod 13 is rotated upward with respect to shaft 14 and the rod is removed from the slit 15 of the guide piece 16. In this case, the guide piece 16 can be bendable in a direction away from the body section 2 and the guide piece 16 can be bent.
As shown in
In the proper state, the joint structure is composed so that the upper leg section (block) 3a, lower leg section (block) 3b and foot section (block) 3c are integrally connected so as to operate integrally.
In the robot toy 1, a support shaft 17 is provided on a bottom edge section of the upper leg section 3a. A later-described concave section 19 to accommodate a shaft 20 is formed on the support shaft 17.
On the other hand, a bearing 18 is provided on the lower leg section 3b. Then, the support shaft 17 of the upper leg section 3a is rotatably fitted in the bearing 18.
Next, the lower leg section 3b is described. A shaft 20 provided to the ball portion 24 composing one side of a ball joint is provided in the lower leg section 3b with the shaft 20 inserted in the shaft hole. The shaft 20 can move in the shaft line direction.
A large diameter stopper 21 is formed on the circumferential face of the shaft 20. A circular projection (engaging section) 22 is formed on the circumferential face of the stopper 21.
The shaft hole extends from the bearing 18 to the foot section 3c. An intermediate portion in the shaft line direction of the shaft hole is a large diameter shaft hole portion. A first circular concave section (engaging section) 23a and second circular concave section 23b are formed apart in the large diameter shaft hole portion at two points in the shaft line direction.
The state where the projection 22 of the shaft 20 is fitted in the first circular concave section 23a is the proper position. Here, the proper position is the position taken by the robot toy 1 when it is in its original form. When the shaft 20 is in this position, the ball portion 24 takes the “predetermined position” described in claim 1.
On the other hand, the position which the ball portion 24 takes in the state where the projection 22 of the shaft 20 is fitted in the second circular concave section 23b is the “separated position” described in claim 1.
Incidentally, a portion of the circumferential wall of the shaft hole from the first circular concave section 23a to the second circular concave section 23b has elasticity and enables the shaft 20 to move.
A ball shaped bearing (ball shaped accommodating section) 25 composing the other side of the ball joint is formed in the foot section 3c. The ball portion 24 is accommodated in the ball shaped bearing 25.
Also, a claw (engaging section) 27 is provided on the ankle of the foot section 3c. On the other hand, a notch (engaging section) 26 which can be engaged with the claw 27 is formed in the lower leg section 3b. Then, when the shaft 20 is in the proper position, the claw 27 and the notch 26 are engaged to each other to fix the ankle.
In this joint structure, when the circular projection 22 of the shaft 20 is fitted in the first circular concave section 23a of the lower leg section 3b, the top edge section of the shaft 20 is inserted and fitted in the concave section 19 of the upper leg section 3a to prevent the rotation of the lower leg section 3b with respect to the upper leg section 3a. Also, at this time, the claw 27 of the foot section 3c is engaged to the notch 26 of the lower leg section 3b to fix the ankle so that the foot section 3c and the lower leg section 3b are integrated.
According to this joint structure, as shown in
In this state, the lower leg section 3b can be rotated with respect to the upper leg section 3a, and as shown in
Incidentally, in the above-described embodiment, an example applying the leg section 3 of the present invention is shown, however, application is not limited to the leg section 3 and can be applied to other parts such as an arm section, head section, tail section, etc.
Also, the engaging section can be composed of a cylindrical body provided on a first block and a fitting section provided on a second block to fit to an outer side of the cylindrical body, and the ball portion can be provided to project from a tip of the cylindrical body. With this, not only can the second block be fixed to the first block, but also, for example, the rotating power from the cylindrical body can be transmitted to the second block.
According to a first aspect of the preferred embodiments, there is provided a joint structure of a toy comprising:
a first block and a second block to structure the toy;
a ball joint including:
an engaging section structured to be able to engage and release the first block and the ball joint by hand to hold the ball portion at the predetermined position when in an engaged state and to allow the ball portion to move to the separated position when in a released state.
Preferably, in the joint structure of the toy,
the ball portion is structured as a head of an eccentric pin projected at an eccentric position of a rotating body provided on the first block; and
the engaging section includes:
Consequently, the present invention can be used in a part where an eccentric rotating movement is changed to a swinging movement, for example between a body section and a leg section of a robot toy representing a dinosaur, and the leg section with respect to the body section can be in a state other than the original state of the toy.
Preferably, the joint structure of the toy further comprises:
a third block provided on a side of the first block opposite of a side where the second block is provided;
a first shaft and a bearing to connect the first block and the third block to enable a rotation of the first block with respect to the third block; and
a second shaft provided to the ball portion to engage to the third block to lock the rotation when the ball portion is at the predetermined position and to release an engagement of the second shaft to the third block to allow the rotation when the ball portion is at the separated position.
Consequently, the present invention can be used in a part where three blocks are connected in a line, for example, a leg section or an arm section, and each portion of the leg section and the arm section can be in a state other than the original state of the toy.
Preferably, in the joint structure of the toy:
the engaging section includes:
the ball portion is provided to project from a tip of the cylindrical body.
Consequently, for example, rotating power can be transmitted from the cylindrical body to the second block.
According to the above-described aspects, in a normal state, the first block and the second block are connected to each other in a predetermined position, and when the toy is used as a figure, the first block is connected to the second block only by a ball joint to enable the second block to take a free position.
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-100123 filed on Apr. 8, 2008 including description, claims, drawings and abstract are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Although various exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, the invention is not limited to the embodiments shown. Therefore, the scope of the invention is intended to be limited solely by the scope of the claims that follow.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-100123 | Apr 2008 | JP | national |
