Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6558224
-
Patent Number
6,558,224
-
Date Filed
Friday, July 6, 200123 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, May 6, 200321 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Banks; Derris H.
- Cegielnik; Urszula M
Agents
- Wood, Herron & Evans, LLP
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 446 268
- 446 485
- 446 219
- 446 484
- 446 269
- 446 279
- 446 280
- 446 238
- 446 237
- 446 242
- 446 438
- 446 411
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A toy (2) has a housing (4) at least a part of which is light translucent, a resiliently-mounted light-reflecting member (20) including a plurality of light-reflecting facets, and a light source (40) directed at the light-reflecting member so that a light pattern is reflected onto the housing.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a toy.
Toys for young children are required to be eye-catching in order to engage their attention, and preferably include some physical means whereby the child may interact with the mechanism of the toy thereby providing both amusement and assisting in the child's development.
The present invention seeks to provide a toy displaying a light pattern.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a toy comprising a housing at least a part of which is translucent, a light-reflective member having light-reflecting surfaces supported within the housing, and a light source directed at the light-reflective member whereby, in use, a light pattern is reflected onto the housing.
This structure is particularly engaging for a child, allowing the child to interact with the light pattern.
In one embodiment the light-reflecting member has a plurality of light-reflecting facets. It may be resiliently supported such as by means of a helical spring, or loosely supported.
The toy may include a plurality of wheels and a rotatable support for the light-reflective member which is operatively connected to at least one of the wheels, whereby rotation of the at least one wheel causes rotation of the light-reflecting member. The wheels may be mounted on a shaft which is operatively connected to the support for the light-reflective member through a gear train. The shaft may support a pair of wheels which are both mounted off-centre on the shaft and off-centre in opposite directions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment of the invention is now described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings in which:
FIG. 1
is a part cut-away side view of a toy in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2
is a front view of the toy of
FIG. 1
; and
FIG. 3
is an exploded view of the toy.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the toy generally indicated
2
has an outer housing
4
shaped here in the form of a snail, but it will be appreciated that any other shape, preferably one which is eye-catching to children, could be utilized. The housing
4
comprises a base part
6
which supports the other parts, main housing
8
, an upper housing part
10
and front housing part
12
. At least the main housing
8
and upper housing part
10
are preferably formed of translucent plastics material. Supported on the base part
6
are a front wheel
14
and a pair of rear wheels
16
, both front and rear wheels having a simple shaft which is rotatably supported on the base, the position of a shaft
18
for the rear wheels being visible in FIG.
2
. As can be seen in
FIGS. 1 and 3
, the rear wheels
16
which are each circular can be mounted off-centre, and the displacement from the wheel centre to the axle may be in different directions such as opposite directions for each wheel. This means that as the toy is propelled by a child it adopts a side to side rocking or “wobbling” motion.
Mounted on the base
6
is a light-reflective member
20
in the form of a hemispherical body covered in small light-reflecting facets in the form of small pieces of silvered glass or plastics. The light-reflecting member
20
is connected to a rotationally mounted gear
22
through a helical spring
24
which makes a push-fit with a projection
26
on top of the gear
22
or a shaft protruding upwardly therefrom, and a projection (not visible) which depends from the underside of the member
20
. Although a helical spring
24
is utilized, any other resilient means such as a springy strip could alternatively be employed. Alternatively, the helical spring may be omitted and the light-reflecting member
20
secured directly to the gear
22
. In this case the gear
22
may be loosely mounted so that the light-reflecting member may wobble. A gear train comprises a first bevel gear
28
secured on the axle
18
, a second gear
30
which has an upper bevelled part
32
which meshes with gear
28
, and a third gear
34
meshed with both gears
30
and
22
, the gear train providing drive from the shaft
18
to the light-reflecting member
20
so that as the wheels
16
turn the member
20
also rotates.
A horizontal partition
36
is fitted onto the base part
6
to conceal the gear train, having an aperture
38
through which the spring
24
for the light-reflecting member
20
protrudes.
A light source
40
having a bulb
42
and reflector
44
is supported between a lower partition part
46
fitted to the base part
6
and an upper partition part
48
fitted to the main housing
8
. Batteries
46
are housed in the base part
6
. Also provided is a sound generating means in the form of a sound-generating electronic circuit on a printed circuit board
48
and a speaker
50
. A variety of such circuits can be utilised as is well-known to the person skilled in the art. A switch
52
is provided in the form of a pair of thin metallic contacts with the switch
52
, bulb
42
and sound generating circuit and bulb
42
arranged in electrical series. The toy
2
is provided with a pulling string
54
which extends through an opening in the front housing part
12
being secured to a first L-shaped connector
56
mounted on the housing so as to allow a small forward and backward movement. The first L-shaped connector
56
is engaged with a second connector
58
having a U-shape likewise normally mounted one end of which engages the first connector
56
and the other end of which bears against the contacts of the switch
52
, so that when the child pulls the string
54
to pull the toy along the ground the light source and sound generating means are activated. The light source
40
is directed at the light-reflecting member
20
which reflects a pattern of light in the form of many individual light spots onto the housing, being visible from the outside at least on the translucent main housing
8
and upper housing part
10
. As the toy is pulled over the ground by the child the light reflective member
20
rotates as well as making a wobbling movement, whereby a wobbling and rotating light pattern is projected onto and is visible from the outside of the toy creating a particularly eye-catching effect.
Claims
- 1. A toy comprising a housing at least a portion of which is translucent, a light-reflecting member having light-reflecting surfaces supported within the housing, and a light source for directing light at the light-reflecting member to reflect a light pattern onto the housing wherein the light-reflecting member is mounted for relative movement within the housing to vary the angle of incidence of the light on the light-reflecting surfaces.
- 2. A toy according to claim 1 wherein the light-reflecting member has a plurality of individual light-reflecting facets.
- 3. A toy according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of wheels and a rotatable support for the light-reflecting member which is operatively connected to at least one of the wheels, whereby rotation of the at least one wheel causes rotation of the light-reflecting member.
- 4. A toy according to claim 1 wherein the light-reflecting member is supported within the housing for limited relative movement therein.
- 5. A toy according to claim 1 wherein the light-reflecting member is supported within the housing by a resilient connection.
- 6. A toy according to claim 5 wherein the resilient connection comprises a helical spring.
- 7. A toy according to claim 3 wherein said at least one wheel is mounted on a shaft which is operatively connected to the support for the light-reflecting member through a gear train.
- 8. A toy according to claim 7 wherein the shaft supports a pair of wheels, at least one of the wheels being eccentrically mounted.
- 9. A toy according to claim 8 wherein both wheels are eccentrically mounted and in an opposite direction to each other.
- 10. A toy according to claim 1 further comprising sound generating means.
- 11. A toy according to claim 1 further comprising a pulling string and switch means for the light source operably connected to the pulling string, which switch means are closed on pulling of the toy by the string.
- 12. A toy comprising:a housing, at least a portion of which is translucent; a light source directing light within said housing; a light-reflecting member supported within said housing for movement to vary the angle of incidence of light falling on said light-reflecting member from said light source; wherein said light-reflecting member moves in response to movement of the toy.
- 13. The toy of claim 12, wherein said translucent portion of said housing is stationary relative to said housing.
- 14. The toy of claim 12, further comprising:a resilient member coupled to said light-reflecting member, whereby said light-reflecting member is resiliently supported within said housing by said resilient member; and at least one wheel coupled with said housing in an eccentric fashion, whereby rotation of said wheel causes movement of said light-reflecting member on said resilient member.
- 15. The toy of claim 12, further comprising:at least one wheel coupled with said housing; and a motion transmission member coupled between said wheel and said light-reflecting member, whereby rotation of said wheel causes movement of said light-reflecting member.
- 16. The toy of claim 15, wherein said motion transmission member includes at least one gear.
- 17. A toy comprising:a housing, at least a part of which is translucent; a light source directing light within said housing; a light-reflecting member supported within said housing for movement to vary the angle of incidence of light falling on said light-reflecting member from said lights source; a resilient member coupled to said light-reflecting member, whereby said light-reflecting member is resiliently supported within said housing by said resilient remember; at least one wheel coupled with said housing in an eccentric fashion, whereby rotation of said wheel causes movement of said light-reflecting member on said resilient member; and a motion transmission member coupled between said wheel and said light-reflecting member, whereby rotation of said wheel causes movement of said light-reflecting member.
US Referenced Citations (21)