Patent Application
20110041823
The present invention relates generally to a toy dart magazine apparatus, and, more particularly, to a toy dart magazine apparatus designed to mate with a toy launcher to simulate a rapid-fire machine gun, where each toy dart is a foam dart or the like made of a soft, spongy, cellular material.
Toys are often created to have play value by simulating non-toy or real items at an expense perceived as reasonable for a toy product. Nevertheless, creating such toys is both difficult and expensive, and many marketed toys are not commercially successful. Many toy concepts do not even reach commercialization. The toy industry develops new toys on a yearly basis and refreshes existing toys to continue interest in the toys for different age groups or for a new group of children reaching a certain age segment. As mentioned, many times new or refreshed toys do not become marketing successes or they never reach the marketplace. However, efforts continue to be made because commercially successful toys are profitable.
Hasbro has created a line of toys where rapid-fire launchers discharge or “shoot” soft, spongy, cellular darts at targets selected by child operators or users of the launchers. The soft, spongy, cellular material used for the darts has been and continues to be used for many products and is generally known by consumers under Hasbro's trademark NERF.
Magazine apparatus have been designed in the past as shown by various earlier United States patents. These may be best reviewed by dividing the patents into two categories, cartridge magazines to be used with real guns, and magazines for toys products or paint ball launchers. In the category of cartridge magazines for real guns, U.S. Pat. No. 1,290,852 for an “Automatic Gas Operated Firearm” issued to Sturgeon in 1919, purports to disclose a sprocket wheel and a spiral spring for feeding cartridges from a continuous belt. U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,235 to Hopkins issued in 1957, entitled “Firearm Magazine With Negator Coil Springs” purports to illustrate two coiled ribbon springs 21, 22 for biasing a follower 28 upwardly to push against cartridges 34, 36 causing them to exit through a port 20. U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,954 for a “Extended Capacity Cartridge Magazine Structure” issued to Hausmann in 1978, purports to illustrate the use of a negator spring 25, FIGS. 1-6, attached to a follower 20 that biases cartridges 15 to a dispenser opening 12 in a “banana” shaped magazine. In FIG. 14, there is illustrated two negator springs 99, 107, also called “spirally wound springs,” connected, respectively, to two followers 97, 105. The spring 99 biases cartridges 100 in the drum section of the magazine toward the straight section of the magazine, and a spring 107 biases cartridges 200 in the straight section of the magazine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,508 to Sullivan and Waterfield issued in 1983 for a “Drum Magazine For A Gun” purports to illustrate a drum magazine with three sprockets 42, 43, 44, FIG. 6, biased by a “sheet metal clock-type torsion spring 46,” FIGS. 3A, 4 and 5A, to bias cartridges C in a magazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,626 issued in 1985 to Bartoiles for a “Primer Cartridge Magazine For A Wedge-Type Breech Block” purports to disclose use of a tension band to indicate a count of cartridges stored in a cartridge magazine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,828 issued for a “Constant Force Spring For Cartridge Magazines” in 1989 to Dieringer et al., purports to disclose a constant force spring and a follower for lifting a stack of cartridges to a gun where the spring includes an anti-curl feature. U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,251 issued in 1991 to Lilley for an “Airgun Magazine” purports to disclose a circular pellet carrier with a coil spring that biases the pellet carrier for loading the pellets into a gun.
In the category of magazines for toy guns and paint projectile launchers, U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,252 issued in 2000 to Stevens for a “Projectile Feed System” purports to disclose an apparatus for feeding paint balls to a paint ball gun. Paint balls are received in pockets around the a periphery of a carrier, and rotation of the carrier moves the paint balls into contact with a guide assembly for directing the paint balls to the gun. U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,837 issued in 2002 to Johnson et al., for a “Toy Gun With Magazine” purports to disclose a magazine with an internal indexing wheel having an annular array of divider walls, where the magazine is operated pneumatically to position a projectile and then uses a coiled spring to return the magazine to an original position.
A U.S. Publication No. 2006/0180134 published in 2006 and listing Illuzzi as inventor for a “Combination Solid Projectile And Paintball Gun, And Solid Projectile Adapter For Paintball Gun” purports to disclose a number of different shaped magazines and different shaped projectiles for feeding a gun by compressed gas. U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,619 for a “Device For Storing Projectile Balls And Feeding Them Into The Projectile Chamber Of A Hand Gun” issued in 2007 to Andresen, purports to disclose a paint ball feeding device with a feeder having feeder chambers and being driven by an electric motor with a slip clutch. An earlier patent listing the same inventor, Andresen, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,953, purports to disclose a structure similar to the first mentioned Andresen patent. A slightly later patent again listing the same inventor, Andresen, U.S. Pat. No. 7,234,456, entitled “Device For Feeding Balls Into The Ball Chamber Of A Handgun,” purports to disclose the same structure as shown in his earlier U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,619. U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,130 for a “Spring-Assisted Paintball Loader” issued in 2008 to Broersma purports to disclose a paintball loader having a motor driven spinning spool and a spiral spring to avoid “dry firing” when the spool is not being driven.
These disclosures, while interesting, do not disclose a toy dart magazine that is useful and cost effective for a toy, especially for a toy operating with soft darts.
In accordance with the present invention, an advantageous apparatus and a process is provided in the form of a toy dart magazine that is especially designed to mate with a toy dart launcher. One described embodiment includes a toy dart magazine apparatus which aligns and stores foam or cellular material darts, e.g. NERF™ brand darts where the dart magazine apparatus is formed to engage a toy launcher such as a NERF N-STRIKE VULCAN EBF-25 BLASTER™, a product marketed by Hasbro™. Advantages of the toy dart magazine are that the magazine is simply constructed, structurally robust and reliably manufactured. The magazine apparatus is able to handle the solid but spongy cellular material that forms many elements of NERF products. The unique dart magazine structure features a combination drum and clip arrangement where movement of the darts in the magazine, during both a loading operation and during ejection when in combination with a launcher, is accomplished smoothly and includes special structures to ease any jamming problem.
The toy dart magazine apparatus includes a housing having a first housing portion, and a second housing portion connected to the first housing portion, an alignment and storage structure having peripheral dart recesses, the alignment and storage structure being rotationally mounted in the housing, a main spring connected to the housing for biasing the alignment and storage structure and for biasing darts located in the housing, and a knob structure connected to the housing and selectively moveable for engaging the alignment and storage structure to enable rotational adjustment of the alignment and storage structure.
The apparatus and processes may also employ a flexible arm pivotally connected to the main spring at one end and to a pusher structure at the other end. A spring-biased knob is mounted on a shaft that also mounts the wheel. Both the knob and the wheel have axially align protrusions that may engage each other to allow the wheel to be rotationally adjusted to correct any jam or misalignment of the darts stored on the wheel. In a described embodiment the flexible arm and a pusher structure are also included with the magazine apparatus and are connected to a constant force spring, where the flexible arm and a portion of the constant force spring are lodged in the chamber of the hollow support during a dart loading process of the wheel, and the constant force spring uncoils when the wheel is rotated during the loading process.
The constant force spring biases the wheel to feed the darts from both the drum and the clip to a firing position at the end of the clip located in the launcher, but the constant force spring is insufficient to discharge the darts when the magazine is not connected to the launcher. A method for configuring a toy dart magazine apparatus includes the novel process of forming a housing, forming an alignment and storage structure having peripheral recesses for mounting darts, rotatably mounting the alignment and storage structure in the housing, mounting a spring to the housing and to the alignment and storage structure to bias the alignment and storage structure, forming a knob, and mounting the knob to selectively engage the alignment and storage structure to enable the alignment and storage structure to be rotated manually.
For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the invention, the accompanying drawings and description illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof, from which the invention, its structures, its construction and operation, its processes, and many related advantages may be readily understood and appreciated.
The following description is provided to enable those skilled in the art to make and use the described embodiment set forth in the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. Various modifications, equivalents, variations, and alternatives, however, will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Any and all such modifications, variations, equivalents, and alternatives are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Referring now to the Figures,
The major elements of the dart magazine apparatus 10,
To allow easy loading of the darts through the clip portion 26 of the magazine apparatus and into the drum portion 20, and to maintain a biasing force on the loaded darts to move them smoothly around the drum portion 20 back through the clip portion 26 and into alignment with the launcher 12, the main spring 40 is connected to a flexible arm 44,
The base element 22,
The cover element 24 is also formed in a generally cylindrical shape and includes a circular wall 70 with spaced short fastener sleeves, such as the short fastener sleeve 72 that cooperates with the fastener sleeve 52. Any suitable fastener may be used to attach the cover element 24 to the base element 22, such as small screws (not shown). One end of the cover circular wall 70 is open and an opposite end includes a wall 74 with a central circular opening 76. Surrounding the opening 76 is a circular flange 78. A pair of tubular elements 80, 82 are connected to the circular flange 78 and extend axially. The cover element includes an axially aligned opening 84 in the circular wall 70 that aligns with the opening 54 of the base element 22 and is also used for engaging the clip portion 26.
The clip portion 26 is formed as an elongated rectangular box, open at both ends. A first end 90 is configured to engage the drum portion 20 through the axial openings 54, 84 in the circular walls 50, 70 of the drum portion, and a second end 92 provides an opening to the magazine apparatus interior for loading and storing darts, and is configured with two curved arms 94, 96 to confine the darts loaded in the magazine apparatus and to align the darts relative to the launcher. A lateral slot 98 is formed perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the clip portion. The lateral slot receives a detent (not shown) of the launcher for mounting the magazine apparatus 10 to the launcher 12, as shown in
The wheel structure 28,
Formed in the middle portion 114 of the wheel structure 28 is an opening 124 that allows access to a chamber 126,
The shaft 34 may be configured as a metal rod 134,
The knob 42,
Usually, the protrusions 132, 162 of the knob and of the wheel structure are kept out of engagement with one another by the knob spring 142. However, because the Nerf darts are of a very soft material, they are easily compressed and may become distorted, unlike metal cartridges that are self supporting, such that when a dart falls out of proper alignment in the magazine apparatus 10 and is compressed and/or distorted, an operator or user of the magazine apparatus is able to push the knob 42 inwardly against the force of the knob spring 142 and engage the two sets of protrusions. By giggling the knob back and forth, the user is able to momentarily override the biasing force of the main spring, and the nonaligned dart is likely to properly seat or reseat itself in a pair of recesses where the dart is supposed to be located. This rotational adjustment feature is very advantageous because of the nature of the soft darts being handled by the wheel structure. The knob may be made of any suitable material, such as a synthetic resin.
The flexible arm 44 is pivotally connected at one end portion 170,
The pusher structure 46 is configured as two generally cylindrical elements, a trailing element 180, and a leading element 182,
As the launcher is operated to discharge or “shoot” the darts, other darts in the magazine apparatus are moved toward the launch position continually so that they may be serially discharged, and the pusher structure 46 moves smoothly as it transitions from the drum portion 20 of the magazine apparatus to the clip portion 26 of the magazine apparatus. A generally constant biasing force is maintained on the darts in the magazine apparatus 10 during the whole time darts are stored in the magazine apparatus, and until the last dart is removed from the magazine apparatus by the launcher 12. The arrangement just described provides a major advantage of the magazine apparatus because of the simplicity of its structure, its inexpensive design and its robust construction. Any suitable material may be used for the flexible arm and the pusher structure, such as a moldable synthetic resin.
Another major advantage of the wheel structure, as shown in
A method for configuring the toy dart magazine apparatus includes forming 200,
The knob is spring mounted so that a user may selectively push the knob axially inward to engage the two sets of protrusions allowing the user to twist the knob and thereby rotate the wheel structure; otherwise, the knob spring 142 biases the knob protrusions away from, and out of engagement with, the wheel structure protrusion. When the two sets of protrusions are engaged, the user is able to manually rotate the wheel structure slightly back and forth to facilitate proper alignment of the darts on the wheel structure peripheral recesses 30, 32 should one of the darts move out of proper alignment with the wheel structure. The pusher structure 46 is configured to engage the peripheral dart recesses of the wheel structure and thereby be in a position to cause the wheel structure to be biased by the main spring.
Referring now to
Continued loading causes the pusher structure 46, engaged with the two pairs of recesses 220, 222 to rotate with the wheel structure in a clockwise direction as viewed in
The curved arms 94, 96 of the clip portion of the magazine apparatus correctly position the darts for the launcher. Thereafter, the magazine apparatus may be snapped-fitted into the launcher so that the darts may be discharged. As each dart from the magazine apparatus is discharged or fired by pneumatic means from the launcher, the biasing force of the main spring 40 causes the next dart in procession to be positioned between the curved arms ready for launch. The biasing force, however, is not sufficient to push the darts beyond the curved arms. The biasing force of the main spring acts on the darts by way of the main spring's connection to the flexible arm, the flexible arm's connection to the pusher structure, and the pusher structure's engagement of two pairs of peripheral recesses of the wheel structure. The main spring rotates the wheel structure until the wheel structure is empty of darts, and thereafter, the pusher structure acts directly against the darts in the clip portion 26 of the magazine apparatus, pushing the darts leftward toward the curved arms. The dart unloading process is also exemplified by FIGS. 8 and 13-16, but in reverse. It is to be noted that use of the main spring, the flexible arm and the pusher structure allows for a smooth transition of the darts as well as the pusher structure between the clip and the drum portions of the magazine apparatus as darts are added to or subtracted from the magazine structure. The elements of the magazine apparatus are relatively simple, robust and inexpensive where only one main spring is required for the magazine system to operate. When the pusher structure reaches the end of the clip portion, as shown in
From the foregoing, it can be seen that there has been provided features for an improved toy dart magazine where the housing is divided into a drum portion and a clip portion, with a wheel structure rotatably mounted to the drum portion. The wheel has four portions, two spaced apart portions having peripheral recesses for receiving the darts and storing them until they are “fired” by a launcher to which the dart magazine apparatus is mounted. A third portion having a smooth circumference and a smaller diameter than the two recess bearing portions wherein the third portion separates the two spaced apart portions. The fourth portion of the wheel has a larger diameter than the two recess bearing portions and is positioned adjoining one of the two recess bearing portions for aligning the darts relative to the wheel. The wheel also includes an opening in the third portion leading to a chamber in a hollow support of the wheel. The apparatus and processes may also employ the described flexible arm pivotally connected to the main spring at one end and to a pusher structure at the other end. While a particular embodiment of the present invention have been shown and described in detail, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects. Therefore, the aim is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. The matters set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings are offered by way of illustrations only and not as limitations. The actual scope of the invention is to be defined by the subsequent claims when viewed in their proper perspective based on prior art.
