Patent Application
20080119106
The present invention relates to a movable toy, and more particularly to an on-water/underwater movable toy which can cruise both on-water and underwater.
The conventional submersible toy is a submarine-shaped toy, for example, a toy that cruises on-water and is capable of brief and repetitive submerging and surfacing underwater. In the Patent Document 1 is proposed a submersible boat in a spindle form, the operation method of which is to utilize the reaction force that is generated when the water in the boat is pumped out.
Patent Document 1: Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-262771,
Typical conventional submersible on-water/underwater movable toy takes the form mostly of a spindle-shaped submarine. The submarine-type structure would involve projection of a plurality of elevators and horizontal planes against the side wall of the hull. This form was especially designed for underwater cruising, which was thus not optimal for high-speed on-water cruising like a leisure boat and a racing boat.
On the contrary, underwater cruising of a movable toy that takes the form of a leisure or racing boat would require mounting of horizontal plane and elevator on the side of the hull, which horizontal plane and elevator must be long enough to achieve the benefits necessary for underwater cruising. Installation of such a long elevator to a hull having an already great horizontal width would, however, lead to much greater horizontal width of the entire boat, resulting in an undesirable designing.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is intended to provide an on-water/underwater movable toy which has the optimal form for high-speed on-water cruising like a leisure boat and a racing boat, and which is also capable of cruising underwater.
The on-water/underwater movable toy according to the present invention comprises: a hull having a boat-shaped deck board that is in close contact with a boat bottom without any clearance therebetween; a screw mounted under said boat bottom; a ladder controllably mounted on said boat bottom; a recess prepared on a boat stern, the recess getting deeper toward the direction of movement; and an elevator disposed at the lower end of said recess, having a shape similar to that of said recess, and being controllably pivotable about a horizontal axis defined by the two elevator-holding axis supports projecting downward from the rear portion of the boat bottom.
The movable toy cruises on water when said elevator is horizontal in relation to the hull, while the toy can cruise underwater when the rear end of said elevator is brought pivotably downward in relation to the hull.
The toy can have a groove which is cut all around the hull, between said deck board and said boat bottom, except the rear portion thereof. Said recess can take such a form as to get greater in width toward the stern side and smaller in width toward the bow side, and said elevator can take an isosceles trapezoid form.
Said elevator, said ladder and said screw are remotely operable by radio control.
The on-water/underwater movable toy according to the present invention comprises: a hull having a boat-shaped deck board that is in close contact with a boat bottom without any clearance therebetween; a screw mounted under said boat bottom; a ladder controllably mounted on said boat bottom; a recess prepared on a boat stern, the recess getting deeper toward the direction of movement; and an elevator disposed at the lower end of said recess, having a shape similar to that of said recess, and being controllably pivotable about a horizontal axis defined by the two elevator-holding axis supports projecting downward from the rear portion of the boat bottom. This configuration enables less complicated structure of the movable toy, which has the optimal shape for high-speed on-water cruising like a leisure boat and a racing boat, and which is also capable of cruising underwater.
The movable toy cruises on water when said elevator is horizontal to the hull, while the movable toy can cruise underwater when the rear end of said elevator is brought pivotably downward in relation to the hull. This configuration enables the movable toy to be easy-to-navigate and to have the optimal shape for high-speed on-water cruising like a leisure boat and a racing boat as well as to cruise underwater.
The groove which is cut around the hull, between said deck board and said boat bottom allows for more stable underwater cruising.
Said recess can take such a form as to get greater in width toward the stern side and smaller in width toward the bow side, and said elevator can take an isosceles trapezoid form. This configuration facilitates generation of greater driving force.
Furthermore, said elevator, said ladder and said screw being remotely operable by radio control, the movable toy can be free to surface and submerge, and free to cruise on-water and underwater, even when the operator of the toy is staying at a distance therefrom.
An embodiment of the on-water/underwater movable toy of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings.
First of all, the embodiment will be described with reference to
Next, a boat bottom 18, which is the reverse side of the deck board 4, is described with reference to
A ladder 30 is mounted in a controllably rotatable manner, still further backward on the boat bottom with a predetermined distance from the screw 26. Two skegs 28, projecting from the boat bottom 18 and located across the screw 26 and the ladder 30, can enhance the water flow management.
An elevator 34 is mounted still further backward on the boat bottom with a predetermined distance from the ladder 30, such that the elevator 34 can be controllably inclined. The elevator 34 is inclinably pivotable between two elevator-holding axis supports 32 projecting downward from the rear portion of the boat bottom 18. The elevator 34 comprises an elevator bottom plate 36, elevator side plates 38 that are vertically arranged on both sides of the elevator bottom plate 36, and a retainer plate 40 that is in communication with, and at a certain angle to, the elevator bottom plate 36.
The elevator 34 is inclinably pivotable between the elevator-holding axis supports 32, the elevator 34 being driven with a servomotor embedded inside the hull. A drive shaft 41 of the servomotor is projectingly mounted in the center of the internal surface 14 of the recess 12, as depicted in
With reference now to
The screw 26 rotates in response to the signal from a transmitter, propelling the on-water/underwater movable toy 2 forward, and the direction of movement changes as the ladder 30 shifts its direction.
As the servomotor embedded in the hull rotates to move the outer end of the crank 42 upward until the elevator 36 is horizontal to the hull by way of the rod 44 and the rod cover 46, the driving force is directed upward and forward (direction A) in relation to the hull's horizontal direction. Then, the boat bow moves upward in relation to the hull's horizontal direction to bring the hull to the on-water cruising operation, which is a horizontal operation like regular vessels.
On the contrary, as the servomotor embedded in the hull rotates to move the outer end of the crank 42 down until the rear end of the elevator 36 is brought pivotably downward in relation to the hull by way of the rod 44 and the rod cover 46, the driving force is directed downward and forward (direction B) in relation to the hull's horizontal direction. Then, the boat bow moves downward in relation to the hull's horizontal direction to bring the hull to the underwater cruising operation.
The on-water/underwater movable toy of the present invention can thus have the optimal shape for high-speed on-water cruising like a leisure boat and a racing boat, and at the same time, can cruise underwater and on-water.
With reference now to
The on-water/underwater movable toy 2 further comprises: an antenna 56 that catches a control signal from a transmitter 54; a signal receiving section 48; a control section 50 that controls each driving section in response to said control signal; a steering and driving section 43 that drives, in response to a control signal from said control section 50, a ladder 30 mounted in the hull; a screw driving section 44 that drives a screw 26 in response to the control signal from said control section 50; an elevator driving section 46 that drives an elevator 36 designed to switch-control the on-water and underwater cruising operations; and a power section 52.
Operation of on-water cruising of the movable toy 2 is controlled in the following manner: the transmitter sends out a control signal, which causes the receiving section 48 to send out another control signal through the control section 50 to the elevator driving section 46, thereby pivotably lifting the rear end of the elevator bottom plate 36 (adjacent to the retainer plate 40) of the elevator 34.
Operation of underwater cruising of the movable toy 2 is controlled in the following manner: the transmitter sends out a control signal, which causes the receiving section 48 to send out another control signal through the control section 50 to the elevator driving section 46, thereby pivotably bringing down the rear end of the elevator bottom plate 36 (adjacent to a retainer plate 40) of the elevator 34.
The on-water/underwater movable toy of the present invention can thus have the optimal shape for high-speed on-water cruising like a leisure boat and a racing boat, and at the same time, can cruise underwater and on-water.
While the embodiment of the present invention has been described and shown as a configuration in which a groove 10 is cut all around the deck board 4, between said deck board and said boat bottom, except the rear portion thereof, it is also within the design variation of the present invention to arrange the configuration without the groove 10.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-316374 | Nov 2006 | JP | national |
